Thirty Fairy Tails
by CatCatKittyCat
Summary: A compilations of one-shot drabbles written for the 30 Day OTP challenge. Couples expected are Gray/Juvia, Natsu/Lucy, Elfman/Evergreen, Romeo/Wendy, and Jellal/Erza. Some AU's other in the canon universe. Look forward to daily updates. Just barely rated T for Teen.
1. Cold Hands (Gruvia)

**Hello everyone, and welcome to my Fairy Tail 30 day OTP challenge. These are a series of drabbles inspired by the spompts of Ericandy's 30 day OTP Challenge, some longer than others. There are also being posted on tumblr, but two days earlier, so if you can't stand the wait, find me at .com. Expected couples are: Gray/Juvia, Natsu/Lucy, Elfman/Evergreen, Wendy/Romeo and Jellal/Erza (plus the slightest chance of Happy/Carla and glimpses of Laxus/Mira). Gray/Juvia is my favorite, so they may be the majority; we just have to find out! Please Enjoy!**

* * *

**Series: **Fairy Tail

**Pairing: **Gray/Juvia

**Prompt:** Holding Hands

**Word Count:** 413

**AN:** Contains spoilers for chapter 366.

Gray and Juvia had arrived at an unusually quiet Fairy Tail. Since Tartarus's attacks had begun, the guild's rambunctious atmosphere had all but dissolved. For some time, Bisca and Alzack's little Asuka had kept some excitement in the guild, but when the youth had become curious of the adult's downturned faces, her parents had decided it was better to stay at home with the child.

Gray left Juvia's side to gather information for their next destinations and share further details of their last, and the water made found herself sitting alone at the bar side. Without Mirajane holding down the bar, she felt loneliness take over her. Softly, she put her hands over top of each other, and thought back to the trip back to the tavern; Gray's cold fingers wrapped around hers and his comforting words in her ears.

Gray always found a way to lift her spirits, though sometimes she was sure he didn't even know he was doing anything; just a smile from his gorgeous face was enough to bring Juvia back to her best. This time, though, he was definitely making a conscious decision to cheer her up. He could have said anything to her at that moment, and it would have been enough.

She knew this was not the time to daydream, but Juvia wished for a day where he would entwine his fingers with hers every day. She prayed for a time where he would take her feelings seriously. She pleaded for even a moment that he might return such feelings.

Juvia let out a soft sigh, and then choked the sigh back when a voice came from behind her.

"I have the next destination, Juvia."

Juvia spun her head around to find Gray behind her, holding his hand out to her. "We better get going. We've got lives to save." He continued.

Juvia's blue eyes traveled from his own onyx pair, down to his extended palm. She tried to keep her deep inhaling breath inaudible, as she hoped she wasn't dreaming (though everything else that was happening she wished were a nightmare) and reached out and took his hand.

"Alright, Gray. Juvia is ready." She confirmed.

Gray flashed her that beautiful smile that she could live off of for days, and for a moment, Juvia was able to forget her fears of the future, as they walked out of the guild hand-in-hand.


	2. Sunshine's Wake Up Call (NaLu)

**Series: ** Fairy Tail

**Pairing:** Natsu Dragneel/Lucy Heartfilia

**Rating: **E for Everyone

**Prompt: ** Cuddling Somewhere

**Word Count:** 954

**AN:** Prepare for fluff

The barely risen sun's light began to trickle in through the blinds over Lucy Heartfilia's bedroom window. The warm light fell onto the shut eyelids of the beautiful blonde, and the young lady tried to turn her head into her pillow to hide from the morning's wake up call. However, instead of her forehead pushing into a soft cotton pillowcase, she found herself rubbing against the skin of a hard, muscled arm.

Lucy slowly opened her chocolate colored eyes and slowly led her sight to the owner of the arm: a pink haired dragon slayer, fast asleep in his street clothes. Natsu was comfortably snuggled under her blankets with her, and—while she didn't remember him being there when she tucked herself in—she was sure he had been there all night.

The celestial mage gave a sigh. When had this become so commonplace? Once, she would wake up screaming at him to get out of her room, but now she thought it might be lonely to wake up without the idiot's face across from hers.

Her eyes traveled across Natsu's features, from his closed eyes to his straight nose, to his wide-open mouth, with a trickle of saliva hanging from it.

"Ew, Natsu. Don't drool on my bed." She whispered, and reached over, wiping his drool up with the scarf wrapped around his neck and chuckling. "Drool on your own belongings."

Lucy thought she might have heard a bird flapping by her half open window, but ignored it as she ran her fingers across Natsu's face and down his chin, smiling softly. What would a morning be without him there? He made her feel safe, though she knew she could take care of herself.

"You liiike each other~~" She heard a high-pitched voice sing from her window. Lucy shot up into a seated position on her bed and swung her blushing face over to the windowsill, where Happy the cat sat, giggling to himself. She sighed in relief, who else would it have been?

"Oh, shut it, Happy." She said softly, and shuffled back down onto her mattress. Once, she would have replied to such a teasing sentence with shouting, denial, and a bright red face, but now, what was the point? It wasn't like Natsu would deny it.

Lucy lay back down, staring right into the face of the dragon slayer, who was still snoring away without a care in the world. Why should _she_ deny her feelings?

Lucy reached her arms out and wrapped them around the torso of her bedroom partner, and dragged herself close, embracing the fire breather in her grasp. She rubbed her head under his chin once, before sliding her own chin up and resting it on his shoulder with a smile and a happy sigh. She looked at the little blue feline in her window, with one paw over his mouth and a big smile on his face. Lucy couldn't help imitate that smile.

The blonde almost yelped in surprise when a pair of arms suddenly wrapped around her waist and pressed her tighter against the chest of the salmon haired man.

"Lucy?" She heard Natsu's voice drag out her name as he emerged from his slumber.

Lucy's heart started racing. What was she thinking? When he was fast asleep, a quick hug seemed like a great idea, but she had lingered there, and now he was awake. What would he do? He _was_ a guy, and he just woke up with the [self proclaimed] best boobs in Fairy Tail pressed against his chest.

Lucy pulled her arms from Natsu's side as she tried to think of an excuse, "S-sorry Natsu, I just… um, you were fast asleep and I thought—"

Her words were put to a stop as Natsu softly pressed her down onto her back and leaned over her, still lying at her left side, his body twisted to look her in the eyes.

Lucy could see a red stain on his cheeks, though she was sure hers were even redder. "Natsu?" She breathed out his name, her fingers wandering up his arm to her right side.

"Lucy can I…" Natsu sputtered softly, "Can I kiss you?"

Lucy was taken aback by his words. Had he really just asked that? She watched his face glow hotter than any fire he'd ever blown, and couldn't help herself any longer.

Lucy's cheeks puffed up a bit before she let out a burst of laughter. She tried to push words through her laughing fit, especially as she watched Natsu's face become more and more confused, but found that his face only made her want to laugh more, so instead she reached her arms up and wrapped them around his neck, yanking the young dragon's face down to hers and placing a quick, sloppy kiss on his lips.

Natsu pulled his face back from hers, as her laughter settled, and Lucy flashed him a big smile. Natsu confusion quickly turned into a smile of his own and he collapsed to her side, wrapping his arms back around her waist and rubbing his head under her chin, before pecking her on the cheek.

"I love you, Lucy." He chirped, cuddling closer to her.

"I love you too, you goofball." The blonde responded, wrapping an arm around his shoulder.

"No Fair! I want a kiss too, Lucy!" Happy whined and flapped over the both of their heads.

"Awe, come down here you idiot." Lucy laughed, and reached up for him.

There was no denying it now, Lucy thought, these two were her family, and she loved them more than anyone else.


	3. Movie Night (Gruvia)

**Series: ** Fairy Tail

**Pairing:** Gray Fullbuster/Juvia Lockser (mentions of Natsu/Lucy)

**Rating: **Slightly T for Teen

**Prompt:** Watching a Movie

**Word Count:** 2734

**AN:** Modern AU, implied high school.

"IIIIYAAAAH! Everything looks _**terrible**_!" Juvia Lockser's voice screeched through her small, one bedroom apartment. The young bluenette stood in front of her mirror, holding two entirely different outfits up in front of her; one a light green sundress with a sky blue shawl, the other a white sweater-vest with a pink blouse underneath and a khaki pleated skirt. She looked back and forth between the two in distress, then fumed out a "Oooo! Juvia hates these!" and threw them both to her feet.

Lucy Heartfilia, sitting on her friend's bed, pressed her palm against her forehead, running her fingers through her short blonde bangs. "Juvia, neither of them are that bad. You're over thinking this."

"That is easy for Lucy to say." Juvia barked, turning from her mirror to face her comrade, "Lucy looks good in absolutely anything! Even the bland high school uniform!" Juvia pointed at the young blonde accusingly. Lucy was wearing the same outfit as Juvia: a cream-yellow sweater, overtop a white blouse and blue necktie, and a blue pleated skirt on her bottom. The only difference being that Lucy had white knee socks on, while Juvia wore black tights.

Lucy scoffed and blushed a bit, trying to appear modest, but honestly enjoyed the praise. "That's ridiculous, Juvia. No one could look good in this junk of an outfit."

Juvia puffed her cheeks up in disagreement, but turned her head away instead of arguing with her yellow haired friend.

"Juvia must look perfect tonight. Tonight is very, _very_ important." She stated, and moved towards to closet to flip through the dresses she had yet to try on.

Lucy placed her chin in her palm and rolled her eyes. "It's just the movies. Gray is such an idiot, he probably doesn't even realize it's a date."

"THAT DOESN'T _**MATTER!"**_ Juvia shouted in Lucy's direction, causing the young lady to jump to her feet in surprise. Juvia spun back around with three more dresses in arm. "Lucy is only a little bustier than Juvia. If Lucy tries these on too, Juvia can see them all faster. Quickly, put this one on!" Juvia insisted, and tossed an orange dress and cardigan at her friend.

Lucy sighed, but saw no reason to protest, and went along with her friend's demands.

* * *

An hour later, Lucy accompanied Juvia across town to the movie theater to drop the young lady off for her date. Juvia had settled with a white and blue plaid sundress, the top of which buttoned up in the front. Lucy had insisted that she leave the all but last couple buttons undone if she wanted Gray to "notice her charm" tonight. Lucy had remained in her uniform, saying that she didn't care what she wore to the movies, though she had took the time to tie her blonde hair into a side ponytail with a white ribbon.

"You look great, Juvia." Lucy reassured her friend, who was lightly pulling at the edge of her dress's skirt.

"Lucy is just saying that…" Juvia mumbled, obviously nervous about the night's plans.

"That's not true, Juvia. You look just as great as I do in all your dresses." Lucy said, not realizing she was bragging about her own curves, "Oh, by the way—could I borrow that orange one some time? It was so cute!"

"No way." Juvia said, puffing her cheeks up again, "Lucy would only use it to steal Gray."

"Except I already have a boyfriend, remember?" Lucy waved her hand back and forth, signaling Juvia to get rid of her doubts. "And speaking of which…"

"Yo Lucy!" A male voice called from down the sidewalk.

Juvia looked up from the rim of her dress, where her fingers had continued to pluck, and saw Natsu Dragneel walking towards them, waving his arm back and forth excitedly. Right behind him was the man of her dreams: Gray Fullbuster.

Juvia became flustered again, thinking about going on a date with Gray, and looked down at her feet. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Lucy leave her side, and looked up as the blonde ran over and threw her arms around the pink haired man's neck.

Juvia admired Lucy's tenacity, she wasn't afraid to tell Natsu how she felt, and now they were dating. Though Juvia was very clear about her feelings for Gray, he didn't respond the same way Natsu had. Sometimes, it felt like her confessions caused them to grow further apart. Lately, she had tried to hold back any words that may cause a rift between them.

Juvia examined the boys' casual wear. Natsu was wearing a black pair of slacks, and a red dress shirt, which his signature scarf covered a good bit of. Juvia could remember when Lucy used to criticize that it ruined his outfits, but had given up a long time ago.

Then, there was Gray, looking up at the sky to ignore the lovey-dovey couple right next to him. Gray was wearing a dark blue t-shirt, made of a very hugging material, which made it easy for Juvia's eyes to trace his abs. He had a black choker around his neck and his favorite cross hanging on a chain a little lower. On his legs were a pair of white jeans, which dragged over most of his black sneakers.

Juvia didn't realize it, but she had raised her hands to her cheeks, and was softly pressing them together as she admired Gray's form. It wasn't until she saw Lucy waving her hand to get her attention that she realized she was staring so intently. She blushed and shoved her hands behind her with a light laugh. "Ahaha, oh! Hi Natsu. Hello, Gray." She walked towards her three comrades and blushed lightly as she stepped closer to the dark haired man. "Is Gray excited to see this movie?"

"Uh, yeah. I did buy us all the tickets." Gray answered, completely oblivious to the young woman's gaze on him.

Juvia pouted, but shook it off. She had all night to get him to notice her. She couldn't let a little thing like that get her down. She peered at Lucy, who had her arm locked with Natsu's, and reached slyly for Gray's.

"Yeah! I dig giant robots!" Natsu shouted excitedly, Juvia jumped in surprise and missed Gray's arm completely, stumbling a bit. The salmon haired man continued in his excitement, "This is gonna be a total blast!"

"Yeah, we're not going to see that." Lucy said with a sigh and roll of the eyes. She gave a yank at Natsu's arm.

"What? We're not?" Natsu whined, and looked confused at Gray, who shrugged, obviously just as out-of-the-loop as he was.

"I had Gray give me our tickets early and I exchanged them." Lucy held up their tickets, which were pink in color. Juvia noticed the tickets sticking out of Gray's pocket were yellow. She knotted her eyebrows, Lucy had not told her about this at all.

Natsu pouted, but Lucy leaned in close to his ear and whispered, "We're going to go see something a little more… romantic." As she continued, her words became less audible to Juvia, but she watched as Natsu's face turn from a frown to an excited smirk. _Very excited._

Natsu suddenly wrapped his arm around Lucy's waist, which got a bit of a giggle out of the girl, and started running for the theater's entrance. "See you losers later!" He shouted, though his voice trailed off as he entered the building.

Juvia watched them dash off with one hand over her mouth. "Juvia is suspicious…"

Gray sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, as if to relieve stress. "It's better if you just didn't worry about it…" he grumbled, then dropped his arms his side. One brushed against Juvia's own hand, causing the girl to blush as her heart skipped a beat.

"Well, guess it's just you and me, Juvia." He said, and smiled lightly at the young lady.

Juvia could feel her heart beating faster and face glowing redder, but she swallowed softly, and nodded. "Yeah, let us be going, Gray."

* * *

The movie was even more exciting than Juvia had expected. She constantly found herself screeching whenever a monster came too close to the screen, and constantly threw her arms around Gray when she was scared; which Lucy had instructed her to do, but she would have done regardless.

When Gray was excited, she could feel his arm tense up, and her attention would be dragged from the flat screen, to his face—lit by only the projected screen. He had a certain glint in his eye that she never saw in anyone else's. It made her fall in love with him all over again.

Juvia was admiring that very feature, when out of the corner of her eyes, she saw one of the theatrical monsters leap at the screen.

"Oh my god! It can fly?!" Juvia screeched and nearly leapt out of her seat—attaching herself to Gray in her fuss. For just a moment, the bluenette thought she heard something pop, but her attention was dragged away by Gray lightly protesting her closeness to him. However, his struggling was short lived as he watched one of the robots Natsu had mentioned, drag the monster, which had scared Juvia, up into space to finish it off.

Juvia felt Gray's muscles tighten again, and she slid her hand down to his, which he quickly grabbed and entwined fingers with. She gasped lightly, and smiled; she wasn't sure if he was aware he was even touching her anymore, but it made her so very happy.

The movie's credits were part way through before lights began to fill the room again. Juvia was sitting beside Gray—instead of practically on top of him—and rubbing tears from her eyes. "The blond couple was Juvia's favoriiite!" She sobbed, "Why did they have to diiie?"

Gray sighed and patted the girl's back sympathetically. "It'll be alright. They died with honor… or something."

Juvia peaked at him through her tears, and Gray attempted to smile to cheer her up, but his comforting was less than substantial and the young lady began to tear up all over again.

Gray sighed heavier, and brought himself to his feet. "I'm not too great at this girl stuff. Let's got see if Lucy and Natsu are done with their movie." He suggested, then added on in a mumble, "And whatever else they were doing…"

"Alright." Juvia snuffled, and stood up. As she did, she heard something small and plastic hit the floor.

Before she could look to see what it was, she heard Gray start to stammer. "J-Juvia." He had over hand half way across his face. "Y-y-your top!" The dark haired man finally turned his head away, but kept his hand gestured towards her torso.

Juvia stared at him, feeling puzzled, but looked down to her bosom to find that what had popped during the movie—and fallen to her feet right afterwards—was one of the last couple buttons keeping her dress's top together. Her white strapless bra was almost entirely visible, along with a great amount of cleavage.

Juvia's face grew red as she put together what had happened, and just then, the rest of the lights in the theater flicked on, and Juvia found there to be many strangers around, staring in her direction, their attention drawn by Gray's voice and her earlier sobbing.

"N-Noooo!" Juvia cried and threw her arms around her chest, running over to Gray to shield her.

"Goddammit." Gray grumbled, his face bright red. He worked with quick thinking, and grabbed the edge of his T-shirt, before pulling it off over his head; eliciting some "oo's" and "ah's" from the surrounding females. Continuing to blush due to the situation, Gray pulled his T-shirt over Juvia's head. The bluenette was confused for a moment, but then realized what had happened while she attempted to hide form the public, and pushed her arms through the sleeves and pulled the shirt over her chest. On her, it was not nearly as hugging as it was on Gray, and was quite obviously a man's borrowed shirt.

She looked up at him with a teary smile. "Thank you very much, Gray." Juvia hugged onto his bare chest.

"Yeah… No problem." Gray mumbled, scratching the back of his neck with one hand, and rubbing Juvia's head apologetically with the other.

* * *

Ten minutes later, Gray and Juvia were sitting in the theater lobby, munching on left over popcorn. Juvia had her side pressed closely to Gray's arm, and was wistfully admiring the young man's features, when Lucy and Natsu emerged from their theater room. Juvia couldn't help but notice that Lucy's ponytail from before had been pulled down and out, and Natsu's clean dress shirt had been ruffled. She blushed, wanting to ask, but knew it was better to let it go.

"Hey guys! Have you been waiting long?" Lucy called, sprinting closer to the seated couple.

"Not really." Gray said, and held out his popcorn bucket in her direction, offering some.

Lucy gladly obliged and began to crunch on the slightly cold snack, before her eyes wandered up Juvia's outfit.

"Heeeeey…" She started, and swallowed the salty treat in her mouth. "What happened to your dress? We took so much time to pick it out, and now you covered it up."

Juvia and Gray both looked directly at Lucy with red faces, before looking in opposite directions of each other. "Nothing… really." Juvia lied.

"Yeah, I just… you know. She was cold." Gray's lie was even more obvious.

"Reeeaally?" Lucy sang curiously, looking back and forth between the two of them. "Nothing happened? Nothing _at all_?"

Natsu walked up behind Lucy to join them, "Well, something definitely happened in there," Natsu bragged, and glanced in Gray's direction to gloat. "If ya' know what I mean."

Lucy elbowed Natsu in the gut, getting a light "uff!" from the young man. "Shut up, Natsu." She rolled her eyes again, this time with a light blush on her face.

"Yeah, no one wants to hear about that." Gray said, and stood up, bringing a halt to the former conversation.

"Well, Natsu here is going to take me out to dinner now." Lucy said, stepping closer to her boyfriend and entwining her fingers with his. "Are you alright getting home on your own Juvia? It's dark out now."

Juvia glanced outside to see that Lucy was indeed correct; the sun had set while their movie showed. She looked back to her friend and smiled kindly, "Yeah, Juvia is fine. Have fun, Lucy."

"Will do!" The blonde cheered, and then spun around, dragging Natsu with her, "Let's go! I want something expensive!" She cheered. Juvia could hear Natsu whine about his allowance as the couple skipped out of earshot.

Juvia stood up and turned to Gray. "Well, Juvia will see Gray later than, Juvia supposes." She said softly, honestly not wanting to leave.

"Yeah, I guess." Gray started, then thought for a moment. "Uh, actually I um… really like that shirt." Juvia looked at the young man curiously, wondering where he was taking this. Gray scratched the back of his neck again, and stared at the ceiling for a moment, as if he was searching for the right words. He looked back to Juvia's blue eyes. "Why don't I walk you home?"

Juvia let out a soft gasp, and then smiled brightly. "Juvia would like that, _very_ much."

**End**

**AN**_**: **__Can you tell what movie they went to? uwu Actually, knowing me, I probably mixed up the details and confused you if you actually did recognize it xP See you all tomorrow everyone._


	4. Starry Night (Rowen)

**Series:** Fairy Tail

**Pairing:** Romeo Conbolt/Wendy Marvell

**Rating:** E for Everyone

**Prompt:** Date

**Word Count: **3632

**AN:** My first RoWen fic. It's rather lengthy, but I hope you enjoy it. Contains match making Mira and mentions of other pairings.

The rambunctious atmosphere of Fairy Tail was ever present as Wendy Marvell stepped into the guild; her closest friend, Carla, perched on her shoulder. Wendy gave a small smile as she admired her guild mates' constant energy. She was far more than used to it, Wendy had now become so accustomed to the shouts and roars of her guild, that silence was something she barely enjoyed any more.

Wendy was so beside herself in enjoying the atmosphere; she forgot that the guild's energy could also be very dangerous sometimes.

"Wendy! Look out!" She heard a young male's voice shout from behind her. Before she could look to see who it was, she felt a yank at her wrist, and fell back into a small pair of arms, right before a wooden table flew past her.  
Wendy watched with wide eyes as the table continued to hurdle through the air, before hitting the opposite wall and smashing into piece.

"Natsu! I hope you plan on paying for that!" Wendy heard Mirajane jeer from the bar.

"But it was that stupid Ice Princess's fault! He provoked me!" The fire dragon complained from the side of the room that the table had emerged from. With an aggravated snort, Carla took off flying from Wendy's side to give the dragon slayer a piece of her mind.

"Are you okay, Wendy?" The same voice from earlier said, and Wendy began to realize she was resting against the chest of another.

Wendy shook her head lightly, her twin ponytails waving with her, and brought herself to her senses. She turned her chin up to see her savior was only a little taller than her. The young Romeo Conbolt, who had his hands on her pale shoulders, looked curiously down at the little lady.

Wendy smiled softly, before bringing herself to her own balance. "Yes, I'm fine. Thank you Romeo, you saved me."

She watched the young lad's cheeks burn a warm red color, before he scratched the back of his neck and replied, "Aw, it was nothing. You probably could have managed your way out in the last minute. You _are_ a dragon slayer after all."

Wendy continued to smile, in thanks for the praise. "Still, thank you very much, Romeo. I appreciate you worrying about me."

Romeo smiled brightly, then his eyes looked to the left, and then the right. "Hey, um, Wend—" He began before another voice cut him off.

"Wendy! Over here!" Lucy's voice shouted from across the guild. Wendy spun around; looking in the direction the blonde's voice had come from. She saw Lucy sitting at the front of the bar, with Mirajane and Levy at each of her side.

"Quick! Get over here!" Lucy shouted again.

Wendy looked back to Romeo, confused as to what her blonde teammate could need, but also curious about what Romeo was starting to say.  
"Ah, it was nothing." Romeo said, avoiding eye contact completely, though Wendy could see how red his cheeks were. "Go ahead and join them. I'll see you later."

"Oh, alright." Wendy smiled, and bowed politely to him, before turning on her heel and skipping towards the group of young women at the bar.

As Wendy neared the ladies, she could hear them giggling amongst themselves. She slowed her pace, seeing Mirajane's grin. The young barmaid was well known for her mischief, and Wendy wasn't sure if she wanted part of it, but she was already nearly at their sides, so she decided it was too late to turn around, and took the last couple steps to join them.

"What is it, Lucy?" The young sky dragon asked curiously.

Levy cut in from the left. "We saw little Romeo save you just now."

Lucy nodded. "He's such a good kid, isn't he?"

Wendy gave the other girls a puzzled look. What were they getting at?

"I think he liiikes you." Mirajane sang with a smile.

Wendy's cheeks turned pink. Oh. That's what.

Before the younger girl could respond, her exceed friend came flying back and perched on the top of her head. Carla sighed irritably, and looked right at Lucy. "That dragon slayer of yours is nothing but trouble!" She spat at the blonde.

Lucy's face glowed slightly red from Natsu being called "hers" but she did little to deny it.

"You hear that, Lucy?" Mirajane said with a sly smile, "Even the cat knows you and Natsu are an item."

"So it really is true." Levy said, with a dreamy sparkle in her eye.

"Would you two shut it?" Lucy griped with a red face, "I thought we came here to talk about Wendy."

Carla looked around to the three women, and then back down to Wendy, whose face was in an embarrassed pout, her cheeks puffed up slightly and tinged with blush. She looked back up, "Wendy? What about Wendy?"

Levy glanced at the white exceed, "Well, what does Carla think?" She asked, as if Carla had been in on the conversation the whole time.

"Yeah." Lucy agreed with Levy's train of thought, "Do you think he likes her?"

Carla stared back at the blonde confused, and rather unamused. "What are you girls talking about?"

"Romeo!" Mirajane nearly shouted, "I want to put Wendy and Romeo on a date! There! I said it! Let's make it happen!" The white haired vixen had suddenly became very excited about the idea, and grabbed Carla by the paws, pulling her up into the air. Carla gasped, and brought out her wings to keep herself at Mirajane's eye level without having to dangle.

"Say you'll let us, Carla! It'll be no good if you're fighting us the whole time!" Lucy cheered in.

Carla grimaced, and pulled her paws away from the take-over mage's grasp. "Why are you asking me? Wendy doesn't even have interest in such a thing anyway." Carla floated back down and landed on Wendy's shoulder. "Right, Wendy?" The exceed glimpsed at the young mage, "…Wendy?

The young lady in question was avoiding eye contact with her partner. She twiddled her fingers together in front of her and scratched one foot against the floor with the toe of her shoe. "Well, I…" She started.

Levy's eyes lit up and she hugged onto Wendy. "Wendy's in love!" She cheered. The other two woman leapt to feet excitedly, their fists clenched as their minds leapt onto the ideas for the future couple's date.

"I-I never said—I just—ooooo…" Wendy covered her face as it glowed red. She was too polite to tell them no. It wasn't as if she was not interested in Romeo, her reaction made it clear that she was. She just didn't feel prepared.

She heard Carla sigh. "Fine. But I will be chaperoning them." The feline stated her requirements.

The three scheming women jumped up in the air and slapped a high five together shouting, "Wendy's date is a 'Go!'"

Wendy continued to hope no one else could hear them.

* * *

Later in the day, when the sun had set and the night of Magnolia Town had begun to prosper, Wendy found herself standing outside, next to a well-dressed Levy McGarden. Wendy was rather well dressed herself. She wore a powder blue gown, and had matching Mary Janes on her feet, with ribbons right in the middle of the shoes. On her shoulders was a lacy white shawl, and her long, dark blue hair, was tied up in a single ponytail on the back of her head, with a lacy ribbon that matched her shawl perfectly.

The little lady looked up curiously to the young woman at her side. Levy caught her stare out of the corner of her eye, and smiled down cheerfully at Wendy. "Are you excited?" She asked.

Wendy blushed and shuffled around where she was standing. "I'm mostly nervous." She said honestly.

Levy laughed softly. "It'll be alright." She reassured Wendy, "I was nervous on my first date with Gajeel too."

Wendy peered up at the young lady with wondering eyes. Levy barely talked about her time with Gajeel; though she always imagined that was more to appease the Dragon Slayer—he couldn't let anyone know he had a soft side.

Levy placed a hand on her cheek and stared off into the distance as she thought about the date in question. "He's always so gruff on the outside, but…" She blushed and seemed to remember where she was and whom she was talking about. Levy shook her head, escaping her train of thought. "Well, it worked out." She smiled softly.

"Well, I hope this works out soon. The kid is already late." Carla griped, fluttering into Wendy's view and landing on the ground next to the sky dragon slayer.

Wendy sighed at her impatient friend with an apologetic smile. "I'm sure there's a good rea—"

Before Wendy could finish her statement, a coach came trotting up in front of them, and after some thumping around in the carriage, the man of the hour came tumbling out and barely caught himself from hitting the pavement.

"I don't see why I have to be dressed up like this!" He shouted behind him. Lucy and Mira were sitting in the coach giggling.

Romeo stood himself up, grumbling under his breath about constraining clothing—he had yet to examine his surroundings. The young man was wearing a gray sweater vest over a white dress shirt with dark blue pin stripes. He had a pair of black slacks on his legs and shiny new pair of black shoes. He tugged at the collar of his shirt with a scowl, and then looked up to see who he had joined outside. His face instantly turned pale, and then began to glow pink.

"W-Wendy! What are you doing here?" He stammered, suddenly feeling like an idiot for practically falling out of the coach.

Wendy laughed softly, "They really didn't tell you anything, did they?" She asked, stepping closer to the boy.

Romeo's eyes trailed up Wendy's outfit and he stared at her, both embarrassment and confusion in his eyes. "Tell me what?" He asked.

"Oh, you really are hopeless." Carla groaned from behind Wendy.

Romeo stared back at the white exceed, but still remained lost in the situation.

* * *

20 minutes later, Wendy bowed goodbye to Levy, Lucy and Mirajane, as the three women rode off in their carriage, and left the younger couple—and their supervising cat—behind, in front of a restaurant named "Starry Night."

Wendy glanced at the young lad standing to her left. Romeo's face was still red, and she could see him barely shivering, though she was sure it was nerves, and not the temperature that had him shaking. She smiled, feeling better just knowing that he was as nervous as she had been, and reached for his hand.

Romeo jumped as Wendy took his hand in hers. He looked at the young lady timidly, before he took a big gulp, swallowing his nerves, and replaced his cautious expression with a grin. Wendy beamed in reply, and the two took a step in through the restaurant door, with Carla following close behind.

The restaurant's walls were a dark blue, and each table was a glossy white, which glowed a soft yellow under the hanging lights above each one. In between each table was a hanging plant, all of which looked well cared for, and had star shaped flowers blooming in each and every direction.

As they entered the lobby, an astute gentleman dressed in a black vest suit greeted them. "Hello there. Do you children have a reservation here?" He asked. Though he was smiling, Wendy could tell he was skeptical about a couple their age dining in such a place.

She peered over at Romeo, who was obviously put off to being referred to as 'children' in such a way, but she was glad he kept his aggravation to himself.

"Yes sir, it should be under Marvell and Conbolt. A table for two." She said politely. Carla had earlier insisted she did not need her own seat. She was there to watch over them, not enjoy herself.

The host flipped through his guest book until their names caught his eye and he put on his best smile. "Ah, yes. Here you are." He said, "Miss Wendy and Mister Romeo. Right this way." The host turned on his heel and led the duo down an aisle of booths, until he reached a round table, in the corner of the restaurant, with a lamp hanging above it that was just a tad more orange in light than the others.

"Your friends insisted this be the seat for you two, and would not have it any other way." The host told them, as he laid their menus on the table. "I hope you enjoy yourselves. Your waiter will be with you in a moment." With that, he turned and left.

Wendy examined the table, it was not only lit differently, but also taller than most of the other tables in the restaurant. The seats were round and backless, and also rather tall, especially for a person of her height. Wendy did not want to falter in front of her date though, and put one hand on the table, and one foot on a lower bar on the chair's legs, on the far side of the chair. With a bit of lift from her arm, she spun herself gracefully and placed her rear perfectly on the chair without much trouble.

Wendy smiled upon her own accomplishment and then looked across to Romeo, who was not having it so easy. The young man was behind the seat, with his feet on the bar that Wendy had started on, but both his hands were on the table as he wobbled back and forth, trying to jump up onto the seat from there—and then he did try.

Romeo gave a light leap and landed with his butt on the chair with a proud gleam, but the chair was not stable under him and began to fall back as the boy almost screeched. Carla dove down towards the boy, but before she caught him from behind, Wendy had reached across the table and grabbed Romeo's wrists. She kept a grasp on him until he rocked himself into place and steadied the chair under him. Carla sighed in relief, and took a perch in a hanging plant above them.

Romeo exhaled, already feeling exhausted, and looked up at Wendy as she began to giggle behind her fingers which were tying to hide her smirk. The young man blushed, "Sorry about that." He mumbled.

"Oh no. Don't be." Wendy said, placing her hands in her lap, "That's what I like about you, Romeo, you're not afraid of the consequences. You just jump right into action. You're really brave."

Romeo blushed at the compliments, but shook off the shy reaction for a smirk and a wink. "Well, you know. I'm gonna be a hero one day. I have to be brave."

Wendy laughed again, and nodded at him.

Carla stared down at the two, and sighed. "How is that a good quality?" She mumbled to herself.

Soon, the waiter arrived to take their orders. Wendy ordered for the both of them, since Romeo didn't seem to have any idea what the words on his menu were saying. Wendy promised she'd order them something good, and he gladly obliged. The waiter eventually returned with two plates grilled chicken, topped with Parmesan cheese and a side of spaghetti. Their plates were placed in front of them, along with refills of their drinks, and a pitcher of water, and then the waiter bowed and left them to their meal.

Romeo excitedly dug right into his spaghetti, though he caught a glare from Carla, and carefully wrapped some noodles around his fork instead of just shoveling the food into his mouth as he had planned. Wendy giggled again as she examined him, before slowly beginning to eat her meal herself.

Wendy was a good way through her meal, when she remembered the happenings from early in the morning. She held her fork still in front of her mouth, with a chuck of chicken and cheese on it, before placing it down entirely.

Romeo heard her fork touch her plate and looked up to the little lady. "Is something wrong, Wendy? Does it taste bad?"

Carla turned in her seat above them to check on Wendy herself.

"What was it you were going to say this morning?" She asked, without answering his question. "You said it was nothing, but I'm curious."

Romeo gawked at her, his mouth still full of food. His face turned red once again and he swallowed hard. "Ah it was…" He looked around the restaurant, but no one was watching him. Even Carla had turned back around, pretending to not listen, so his nerves settled and he exhaled. "It was this."

Wendy gave him perplexed look, and waited for him to continue.

"I just, you know, I wanted to know if you wanted to hang out some time…" Romeo blushed and ruffled the hair at the back of his head bashfully. "I never expected a date, but, hey, who's complaining."

Wendy blushed and held her hands over top of each other in her lap. She shuffled timidly in her seat and gave a small smile.

"Hey, Wendy." The boy said, regaining her attention, "earlier you said what you liked about me, so I…"

Wendy looked up to the boy with hopeful eyes and his nerves set back in. Romeo coughed, trying to play off his skittishness, before he continued.

"I just… You're really brave too Wendy. Even though you're young like me, you can go on adventure with guys like Natsu and Gray." His voice became softer, as did his gaze upon her, "You're always racing to your friends' sides when they're hurt and you always try you best." He closed his eyes to shut out the rest of the world as he finished his statement, though it was nearly inaudible. "Someday, I just want be someone you can count on."

Romeo heard Wendy's plate scoot slightly across the table, but what made him open his eyes were her fingers closing around his. He looked over to Wendy to see a pout on her face. The boy stammered, trying to figure out what he'd done to make her frown.

"You already are someone I can count on, Romeo." Wendy said shyly. "You should know that, after all," She flashed him a grin, "I wouldn't go on a date with just anyone."

As Wendy started laughing again, Romeo's worries disappeared. He began laughing with her too, and the two seemed to have forgotten their meals, having gotten lost in each other's joy.

Carla rolled her eyes at the dumb founded boy now cackling below her. "Idiot." She sighed, "Well, Wendy is happy. So, I suppose it's fine."

* * *

The next day, Wendy sat at the bar at Fairy Tail, wearing a red outfit that resembled a school uniform, and her hair tied back up in twin tails, with triangle barrettes that resembled cat eats.

"So, how'd it go?" Levy squealed, sitting to the left of her.

Lucy had taken the seat on her right, and also jeered for details. "Yes, Wendy! You _have_ to tell us. We _did_ get you the date after all." She poked at the younger mages cheek. Wendy just puffed up her cheeks and tried to ignore her.

"It's only fair." Mirajane said, walking up behind the bar. "That's the same seat I arranged for Elfman and Ever's first date, and you know those two really hit it off."

Wendy sighed, "Okay, fine. But there's not all that much to tell." She blushed, "We just, you know, we had fun and ate. The food was good and he…" Her eyes looked lost in thought for a moment. "He's really sweet." She finished with a coy smile.

"Yeah, he's a real idiot, that kid." Carla put in her own two cents, flying down and sitting down on the bar behind Wendy.

"Carla!" Wendy whined, turning her head to the white exceed, "That's not very nice."

"But he made Wendy happy so… He's a good kid." Carla finished her previous statement, and watched as the young mage's face turned bright red, and she turned her head back around, avoiding eye contact with everyone around her. She could hear the older mages snicker at her bashfulness.

"Wendy! Are you ready?"

Wendy looked up from her embarrassment, and saw Romeo running towards her, waving his arm. She smiled and leapt down from her seat. "Yeah! Let's go." She replied, locking her arm around one of the young mage's own when he came close.

"Ready for what?" Levy asked.

"Yeah, where are you two off too?" Lucy also pried.

"Another date, of course." Romeo bragged, "Dad says you can never go on too many dates with a beautiful woman." He stuck his tongue out at the other ladies, and then ran off, dragging a red faced Wendy with him.

"I'm not sure if taking advice from Macao is the best for the boy…" Levy sighed, as the two disappeared from sight.

"You're not going with them, Carla?" Lucy asked the white exceed, who had jumped over to the other side of the bar.

"What's the point? An idiot boy like that will never learn if I'm always jumping down his throat over all his mishaps." She explained. "Besides, I have my own plans."

The Fairy Tail girls stayed quiet, but watched Carla sprout her wings, and fly off with a large fish in tow.

**End**


	5. Stealing Kisses (ElfEver)

**Series:** Fairy Tail

**Pairing:** Elfman Strauss/Evergreen

**Title:** Stealing Kisses

**Rating: **T for Teen

**Prompt: **Kissing

**Word Count: **898

**AN:** If you're mentally singing Ben Harper's "Steal My Kisses" now, you're already on the right track.

As the sun shone in through his bedroom window, and onto his manly eyelids, Elfman Strauss was ripped from his slumber, back into reality. The muscular man squinted, moving one arm lazily over his face, hoping to block out the sun for just one more hour. He reached for the curtain, hoping to rid himself of the source of light by covering it completely, when a groan came from his side, sleepily protesting his shift of weight on the mattress.

Elfman looked to his right, to see Evergreen snuggled tightly against his ribs, her head resting on his shoulder and fingers slipping unconsciously down his abs. He breathed out a sigh, and returned to his former position. The fairy mage readjusted her head to his form, but did not emerge from her sleep.

Elfman watched the young woman, dwarfed by him in size, as she slept softly under her blankets. He traced his fingers up her cheek, and then around her ear, slipping some loose hairs behind it. Then, much to her displeasure, he shifted his weight again and lowered his face to hers, before placing a soft kiss upon her lips.

Evergreen groaned, and pulled her head away. "I'm trying to sleep here… you stupid lug…" She shuffled down and then bopped him under the chin with the top of her head, which, he was sure, could have been a _jaw-breaking_ attack if she weren't still half asleep.

Elfman chucked softly, and repositioned himself to his side. Evergreen cuddled close again, her head under his chin and resting on a pillow this time, as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

The fairy mage's beauty sleep was once again interrupted as Elfman kissed her softly on the forehead, then the nose (which elicited a tiny squeak from the small mage), and then on her lips again.

"Elf…" She groaned, "I said I'm trying to—ah!" Evergreen's protest was interrupted as Elfman softly groped her butt. His free hand ran up her back and pushed her face closer to his, before he brought her into a deepened kiss. He nibbled tenderly upon her bottom lip, before she allowed his tongue entrance to her mouth, and she gave in to the man's desires.

* * *

When morning had fully bloomed, Evergreen stood in the same room, pulling her favorite green dress on over her head. Elfman stood on the opposite side of the bed, closer to the window, as he pulled his pants on over his hips.

"Elf." Ever called from him, using his nickname that she refused to as much as whisper unless they were alone. "Come zip me up."

Elfman sighed. That was how she asked for favors. She never used please, because she always got her way, so there was no need. He obliged to her request though, and treaded up behind her, before taking the tiny zipper in his hand and running it up her back. Once he was done, he pulled the hair from around her shoulders behind her, and softly petted it into place.

Evergreen turned around and gave him a smile. "My glasses?" she requested. Elfman smiled with his sigh this time, and reached over to the night stand, lightly picking up he spectacles, before opening them and slipping them onto her face, which he lowered his own to slowly.

Elfman could see the young woman smile softly, in anticipation of another kiss, but knew she was trying to play it off, so he stopped right before her lips, and whispered. "Ever?"

"Yes, Elf?" She responded, not moving from her position at all.

"Kiss me."

Evergreen's face turned two of three shades of pink, before she stumbled back against the bedroom wall. "What are you talking about?" She scoffed, "We've been kissing all morning. Aren't you sick of it yet?" There it was again, a certain dishonestly she sported when she was embarrassed.

"Yeah but, I'm always kissing Ever." Elfman explained, stepping closer to her again, before placing an arm above her head and leaning down towards her again. "Ever never kisses me."

He watched her gulp softly, and worried that he might be intimidating her more than he had planned. His worrying stopped as she reached up, running a hand over his cheek and fingers through his hair. He watched her soft eyes gaze upon him, before they turned fierce as she grabbed a tuft of his hair and yanked his lips down onto hers.

She took little time to force her tongue in and Elfman gave out a groan, before leaning in to deepen the kiss. Evergreen reached up over his head and wrapped her arms around his neck. She turned her face; their teeth clacked together, their lips interlocked for what seemed eternity.

When Evergreen finally pulled away from him, Elfman caught a quick glimpse of a glare in her eye, along with a pink stain on her cheeks. She didn't seem half as breathless as she had left him.

"There. Hope you're happy, stupid." She grouched, and turned away as she sauntered out the bedroom. As Elfman watched her disappear through the doorway in his daze, he was sure he heard a light chuckle escape the fairy mage's lips.

**End**


	6. What is Important (Gruvia)

**I hope everyone's enjoying the fics thus far :) As you may have noticed yesterday, I started adding the main couple names to the titles so you can tell from reading them. I figured this would be mostly be helpful for people following the story, so you can read who the couple is from your email alert. Anyway, today is more Gruvia! Enjoy!**

* * *

**Series:** Fairy Tail

**Pairing:** Gray Fullbuster/Juvia Lockser

**Title: **What is Important

**Rating: **Barely T for Teen

**Word Count: **807

* * *

It was pitch black as slim hands wandered around the floor, a young woman, on her knees, searched for what she had lost. Blue eyes frantically flicked across the room, but they could not make out more than the contours of objects, barely lit by the moonlight that trickled through window blinds.

"Where? Where is it?" Her voice was shrill from nerves; afraid she had forever lost her missing object. Just then, her fingernails slipped across a cold, metal object, and she gave out a gasp. She ran her hand back and forth where she had felt the cold sensation, and then found it again, partially covered by a soft fabric.

Lifting up the fabric, the young woman reached down and lifted the found possession by the long metal chain connected to it. She sighed in relief.

"Juvia? I can hear you. What are you doing?"

With the flick of a switch, light filled the room, and Juvia's eyes flew over to whom had illuminated the area. Gray Fullbuster stared back at her with wide eyes, as Juvia kneeled on his bedroom floor, a few feet away from him, with his white shirt in one hand, his favorite pendant in the other, and _completely_ naked.

Juvia's face quickly turned from pale to bright red and she shouted, "Gray! Don't look!" while she attempted to cover herself.

Gray stammered some incomprehensible words and did all he could think of: he flipped the light switch back off and turned the opposite direction.

Juvia had not found her own clothes in her panic, and just pulled on what she already had. She buttoned Gray's shirt around her waist and all the way up to her neck, and pawed with her foot around the ground for anything she could put on her bottom, but to no avail. Giving up, she sat on Gray's mattress and pulled the sheets over her legs.

"It is alright now, Gray." She mumbled, still quite embarrassed.

Gray audibly sighed, and flipped the light back on as he turned around. His eyes fell upon the young woman again, dressed only in his own shirt. He was not so sure it was 'alright.'

The ice mage took a step towards the dame sitting in his bed. "What were you crawling around in here for?" He asked. "And where did your clothes go?" He took a gander around the room, and discovered his own clothes were scattered everywhere. Surely, hers were buried under them somewhere. "What happened in here?"

Juvia looked shyly away from the young man, who had already stripped himself shirtless since entering the room—though she was sure that was an unconscious decision. Instead of answering him, she reached her hand out and beckoned him closer. Gray took the hint, and kneeled on his bed, kicking his shoes onto the floor as he did.

Juvia reached up and strung a chain around his neck, fastening his favorite pendant into place. The ice make mage reached up and placed his hand over it, "I didn't even realize…" He started to say, before Juvia interrupted.

"Juvia is very sorry. Juvia took it from Gray last night after Gray fell asleep. Juvia only wanted to wear it for a little, but then Juvia fell asleep, and when Juvia woke up, Gray's pendant was gone." Her eyes looked sad with guilt. "Juvia knows it is important to Gray, so Juvia looked everywhere for it and… made a mess."

"Juvia…" Gray sighed. She clenched her eyes shut, and braced herself for Gray's irritation. However, what she heard was not chiding, but the rattling of slim metal chains, before she felt Gray's hands slip around her neck.

The water mage opened her eyes to find Gray attaching the necklace behind her neck this time. "Gray?" She gasped, and looked up to his eyes. He flashed her a sly smile, but Juvia remained in confusion.

"You can wear this any time you want—all the time even. I don't care." He told her, and then pressed a soft kiss upon her forehead. "That pendant is important but… not as important as you." He watched her eyes begin to cloud up with tears. "I just want you to be happy, Juvia."

"Graaaay!" Juvia sobbed, and wrapped her arms around his neck, before collapsing back onto the bed, bringing him down on top of her. "Juvia loves Gray."

Gray kissed at her collarbone. "I know. I love you too, Juvia." He responded, and wrapped his arms around her waist. "Hey, I think this shirts a little big for you." He smirked down at her, "Why don't we take it… off?"

Juvia's face turned pink again, and then she bit her lip, "Whatever makes Gray happy."

**End**


	7. Tiny Princess (Gajevy)

**Series:** Fairy Tail

**Pairing: **Gajeel Redfox/Levy McGarden

**Prompt:** Cosplay

**Rating: **Almost T for Teen

**Title: **Tiny Princess

**AN: **Modern College AU. Sassy Levy.

* * *

"No. No way, shrimp. I'm not going anywhere dressed like this." Gajeel Redfox's voice was stern, but clearly annoyed.

"Come! On! Gajeel!" His girlfriend growled, her fingers wrapped around his studded arm as she attempted to drag him out of her dorm. With little strength, the tanned man flexed his arm back and flung the petite bluenette forward and onto her knees in front of him.

"I said 'No.'" He spat.

Levy pouted with puffed up cheeks. "But Gajeel, you totally look cute…" she whined.

Gajeel sighed, and kneeled down to ruffle the small girl's hair. "Cute is _not_ my… 'thing.'" He stated the obvious.

The outfit that Gajeel was making a fuss about was comprised of a white shirt, with huge, long, poofy sleeves, and dark blue vest; a pair of uncomfortably tight gray tights; a red cape over his shoulders; and a plastic sword hanging from this left hip. "And we're a couple!" Levy continued to argue. She obviously had gotten the better of the outfits. She wore a dark blue corset and a light blue blouse, with short poofy sleeves striped partially with red. Around her waist was a long yellow skirt, which billowed over her toes, and a bright red ribbon was tied around the top of her head.

"Lucy is going to be Aurora. Ever's going to be Belle. Juvia's going to be Ariel. And I…" Levy brought herself to her feet and glared down at her boyfriend, her confidence rising faster than he could bear to watch. "I am going to be Snow White! I'm going to be the best Snow White!" As Gajeel came to his feet, Levy slapped her hands to each side of his face and brought it down to hers. "And you. You are my charming princes." She stated very matter-of-factually. "Everyone in our entire college is going to this party and so are we."

And with that said, Levy snatched Gajeel by the hand and stormed for the door, dragging him with her whether he argued or not.

"Levy…?" Gajeel started to say. Levy instantly halted, always surprised when he referred to her by name. She waited for him to continue. "I have the _weirdest_ boner right now."

Levy blushed for a second, then composed herself and looked over her shoulder at her boyfriend. "Oh really?" She asked, "Maybe I should be bossy more often then?" Levy gave him a wink, and turned around. "I suppose we should take care of that before the party." She reached up and ran her fingers around the collar of his costume. "No more complaining though."

Gajeel replied to her with a hungry smirk. "I think we have a deal."

**End**


	8. Little Red Dress (Gruvia)

**Today's fic I had sooo much fun writing! It's my favorite thus far in this challenge, I almost want to post it separately but I will stick to my word! I hope everyone enjoys it!**

**Series:** Fairy Tail

**Pairing:** Gray Fullbuster/Juvia Lockser

**Prompt:** Shopping

**Title: **Little Red Dress

**Rating:** T for Teen

**Word Count: **7969

**AN: **Lots of Lucy/Juvia friendshipping; Mentions of NaLu. This one is pretty lengthy (15 pages of Word) but I had so much fun writing it!

* * *

Magnolia Mall was the largest mall in its town; so large it was named after city itself. The mall featured stores of top clothing designers all over Earthland. There were three food courts throughout the plaza and a large arcade right in the center. The Mall itself was built in a circular fashion, so if shoppers continued to walk in one direction, they would eventually come back to where they started, and have seen all the shops.

The mall could easily house over 25,000 patrons, and on a day like today—the day before Valentine's Day—at least that many shoppers were squeezed into the mall, if not another thousand more.

As Juvia Lockser took a step in through the magic-propelled automatic doors, she could not only see how incredibly packed it was, but hear it too. The shouts of parents and screams of excited children filled her ears. Merchants standing outside of their stores hooted and hollered to draw in attention. There was music playing through speakers on the ceilings, whatever was popular at that time of year, and the volume was cranked up high enough that she could still hear the musicians screaming over the commotion.

The blue haired mage took a step backwards. Maybe this was a bad idea after all. There would be other Valentine's days. She'd shop earlier next year. Yeah, that was a good idea.

But before the young woman could flee, a figure bumped into her back, shoving her into the mall. Juvia barely caught herself from falling to the floor, and avoided sullying her long, thick, dark blue winter dress. As she straightened her posture, she heard the culprit apologizing.

"Ah! I'm so sorry. I never though it would be so hard to get in he—Juvia?"

Juvia turned around to find Lucy Heartfilia was the very person who had nearly shoved her to the ground. She kept in her inner thoughts about Lucy secretly wanting to ruin Juvia's dress so Gray would dislike Juvia.

"You're shopping today too? I thought I was the only one who waited so long." The blonde laughed, and walked towards her comrade.

Juvia didn't audibly respond to Lucy, instead she flashed her eyes out at the crowd, and then back to the stellar spirit mage again.  
"Okay. Obviously everyone waited this late. I get your point." Lucy took the hint, and then patted Juvia on the shoulder. "Do you want to shop together, then?" The young blonde asked, "It'll be more fun with two of us, and we won't get lost in the crowd."

Juvia tried to hide her blushing cheeks. She had not had a lot of friends growing up, especially female ones, so she had never gone shopping with friends before—and with her usual reaction towards any woman who stepped near Gray, she thought she never would. But Lucy saw past the aggressive, possessive Juvia, down to the lonely little girl who didn't get to grow up. Sometimes Juvia felt very guilty for her jealousy towards the young woman.

The water mage bit her lip a little, and then smiled to Lucy, who was just smiling and waiting for a reply. "Juvia would like that. Juvia would like that very much."

Lucy grinned and then snatch up Juvia's wrist. "Let's get going then!" She cheered, and dragged the bluenette off into the crowds.

* * *

Lucy stopped in almost every shop. She tried on bra's absolutely everywhere, saying that she always was looking for new lingerie. "It's hard to find the cute ones in my size…" She would whine while throwing brightly colored underwear behind her into a reject pile.

Juvia didn't have that kind of confidence in her body, so she just waited outside changing rooms for Lucy until her friend was content and they would travel onto the next store.

They continued this pattern for five of six stores straight, before Lucy finally stopped outside of another lingerie store and asked. "Juvia. You haven't tried anything on. What are you shopping for today anyway?"

Juvia gasped, suddenly feeling like the spotlight had turned on over her head. She twiddled her fingers and peered over into the corner of her eyes. "Juvia doesn't really know…" She admitted.

Lucy pouted at her comrade. "You came to the mall on the busiest day of February with nothing in mind?" She asked.

"No… that is not entirely true." Juvia sighed, "Gray is taking Juvia out on a date tomorrow night, but Juvia does not have anything to wear." She heard Lucy gasp, but she continued to ramble, "Not that Juvia does not have lots of clothing. But Gray has seen them all. Juvia wants to wear something special."

"Wait, wait-wait waaait." Lucy interrupted, and stepped closer to Juvia. She grabbed the bluenette by the shoulders and looked into her blue eyes with her own sparkling brown pair. "You mean the rumors are true? You and Gray are official? For real?" Lucy was visually excited, along with audibly—Juvia was sure everyone walking past could hear her.

Juvia sighed again. "Yes. Gray wanted to keep it a secret but…" Juvia kicked her foot back shyly, looking at the ground. She continued to twiddle her fingers. "Gray said Juvia was too persistent to ignore any longer and so…" She blushed furiously, thinking about the loud confessions she shouted outside of Gray's apartment the night he finally gave in and asked the girl out.

"That's so great!" Lucy squealed, and threw her arms around Juvia, locking her in an embrace. Juvia squeaked from the sudden closeness. "I am soooo happy for you, Juvia!" Lucy stepped back and finally released Juvia completely from her grasp. "So where are you guys going? I bet Gray's a real romantic."

Juvia bit her lip, and beckoned Lucy to come close. The blonde leaned in and the blue haired mage whispered something in her ear.

Lucy gasped, "_SNOWFLAKE PLAZA?!"_ She shouted at the top of her lungs, heads around the mall turned their direction, "You mean _the_ Snowflake Plaza? The restaurant that's only open 3 months a year and sells the most delicious winter time foods ever imagined? THAT Snowflake Plaza?!"

Juvia pressed her finger against her own lips, trying to signal the excited celestial mage to quiet down. "Yes. Yes that one." She whispered.

Lucy looked like she was going to spaz. "What—That's! How?!" She managed to spit out. "I've been trying to get a reservation there since I was twelve years old, Juvia! _Twelve. Years. Old._ I thought it was impossible. How did you two get them?"

Juvia shrugged. "Juvia honestly doesn't know. Juvia mentioned it off hand once and then, Gray invited Juvia to the restaurant last week. Juvia was just as shocked as Lucy."

Lucy grabbed both of Juvia's hands in hers. "Juvia. We are going to find you the most perfect dress. You're going to have the best date ever. And so will Gray." Juvia seemed shocked for a moment, and then smiled brightly at Lucy.

"Juvia would like that very much. Thank you, Lucy." She cheered.

"And then Gray will be so grateful to me—the girl who helped you find the sexiest dress in existence—he can use whatever secret connections he has to get me reservations too! It's perfect!" Lucy began to laugh uncontrollably.

Juvia felt a drop of sweat run down the side of her face. She didn't know if she should tell Lucy that she was broadcasting her inner thoughts out loud, or if she should crush her spirits by reminding her that tomorrow was the last day that Snowflake Plaza would be open until December. Instead, she just continued to allow the blonde to carry on in her gloating.

* * *

After another couples minutes of walking, and twenty more spent shopping, Juvia found herself inside a changing room of one of the mall's larger department stores. This time, it was Lucy's turn to wait outside as Juvia tried on clothes. Juvia stepped into a black dress and pulled it up over her bosom. She slipped her arms through the straps and reached behind her back, zipping it up as far as she could on her own. She lifted the white boa Lucy had suggested to try on with it, and wrapped it around her shoulders.

"Juvia is coming out." She called. She waited for an "alright!" from Lucy, before she unlocked the door and stepped out into the hallway. Five other changing rooms surrounded hers, and Lucy sat on a bench at the end of the aisle, which was surrounded with mirrors. On Lucy's lap was her weird little…dog, Plue, who shivered as Lucy poked his carrot-shaped nose. She found him to be just the right companion to keep herself entertained with while she waited for the other young lady to change.

Lucy looked up from her odd pet, and her eyes fell upon Juvia. The dress caught perfectly on her hips and fell daintily down to her ankles, with a long slit up the left side, showing off most of her leg, and just a peek of her guild mark.

Lucy gasped, "Juvia you look wonderful! Gray will totally go crazy for you." She gave the water mage a thumbs-up.

Juvia examined herself in the mirrors around Lucy, the young blonde scooted in her seat a little so Juvia could have a better view. After a moment, Juvia frowned, to which Lucy sighed in response.

"This dress is also not good enough." Juvia stated.

Lucy puffed up one cheek, and then exhaled. "Goodness Juvia, that's what you've said about the last three dresses. What a you looking for?"

Juvia frowned deeper, "Juvia doesn't know." She mumbled, "Juvia is sorry."

Lucy sighed again, and patted Plue on the head, signaling the little dog to head back. With a poof of smoke, the critter disappeared. "I'm sorry, Juvia. Don't be sad." Lucy stood up and patted her friend on the shoulder. "We'll just keep trying them on if we have to. But do you have anything in mind? A color even?"

Juvia bit her lip, and then shook her head softly. "Juvia just wants Gray to notice her." She spoke in almost a whisper.

Lucy knotted her brows together. "What do you mean, Juvia? Gray asked you out, didn't he? He already did notice you."

Juvia shook her head harder this time. "Gray just got tired of turning Juvia down. Gray and Juvia have been dating for two months now, but Gray still treats Juvia the same." Juvia looked like she might cry, and then added, "Like a nuisance…"

Lucy grimaced and took Juvia's shoulders in both hands, before giving the girl a shake. "Juvia, you should know Gray isn't that kind of guy. He wouldn't date a girl just to shut her up. If he's giving you a chance, that means he must at least _think_ you're serious about him." She stopped shaking Juvia and waited for the water mage to regain her composure, "You _are_ serious about this, right?"

"Of course!" Juvia almost shouted, "Juvia has never been more serious about anything in her entire life! Juvia wants to make Gray the happiest man in all of Fiore! No! All of Earthland!"

Lucy grinned at Juvia cheering. "Well, then what we need isn't something for Gray, but something for you, Juvia."

Juvia looked at her teammate confused. "What does Lucy mean by that?"

"Juvia, you're gorgeous, you've got a great body and boobs almost as good as mine." Lucy watched as Juvia blushed at the compliments. "_Almost."_ She repeated, being very proud of her own breasts, then continued, "We need something that will get _your_ confidence up. _You_ need to notice your beauty. Not Gray."

Juvia stared blankly back at Lucy, surprised by the blondes speech of confidence. She nodded slowly. "Alright. Juvia will listen to Lucy."

"Good!" Lucy clenched a fist and then pumped it into the air, "Because Lucy knows just the thing!" Juvia could see a twinkle in Lucy's eye, and a smirk on Lucy's face, and she began to worry she may have been digging her own grave.

* * *

"Juvia does not think she can wear this." Juvia spoke from inside of another dressing room, in a smaller specialty store further down the mall's walkway.

"Awe, come on, Juvia. You said you'd listen to me, didn't you? And I haven't even gotten to see yet." Lucy grinned, sitting on a bench directly in front of Juvia's changing room this time.

Juvia sighed. "Lucy is right… Juvia is coming out." She nervously took the door handle and turned it, the lock automatically popping open, and then she slowly stepped out into view.

Lucy's eyes lit up as she gazed upon her friend. Juvia wore a bright red dress, completely strapless, which dipped into a deep V, showing off her breasts. A white ribbon wrapped right under her bosom, and tied in a bow in the middle, under her uncovered cleavage. The dress fell just past her waist, and was cute with a ragged edge. Juvia had asked if it was torn, but Lucy told her it was just for style. Beneath the skirt, her legs were completely bare, much to her discomfort.

"Oh Juvia, you look totally beautiful." She squealed, "You _have_ to wear that tomorrow!"

"No. Juvia cannot. Juvia is naked." Juvia stated blankly.

Lucy started laughing, "Juvia you're not naked." She managed to squeeze through her laughter. "Okay, how about we make a deal? I buy you a pair of red stockings, and you buy that dress for tomorrow. "

Juvia puffed up her cheeks, still opposed to the dress, but imagine how it would look with stockings. Her legs wouldn't be entirely bare, and she would be warmer. Plus, she did promise to listen to Lucy. Reluctantly, Juvia nodded,

"Great! One more thing then." Lucy chirped.

Those words continued to worry Juvia.

* * *

Lucy's hand was wrapped around Juvia's right hand, and the blue haired mage's purchases filled her left, as she allowed her blonde friend to drag her across the hall. Lucy stepped into another store, and patted Juvia's shoulder, gesturing they had arrived at their destination.

Juvia looked around to find herself surrounded in lingerie again. "What? More underwear, Lucy?" She asked confused.

"Well, I have yet to find the perfect set in my size." The stellar spirit mage replied, and trotted into the store. Lucy examined bras hanging on the walls and on mannequins, scrunching her eyebrows together as she judged them.

Juvia observed her for a short while, before speaking up. "Why does Lucy buy so much underwear?"

Lucy was holding a pink, lacy bra up to her chest, when she looked up to Juvia. "Well…" She started, and put down the bra before digging around a pile of clearance items, "You aren't the only one who has trouble being noticed."

Juvia's eyes filled with curiosity.

Lucy sighed and continued, "No matter how many bras I buy, Natsu just tears them off. He never stops to look at them. He has no idea how much I like them." She exhaled; becoming irritated just thinking about it, "He's destroyed so many of my favorite lingerie sets, and he never even bats an eyelash while they're one me. He's such a horn dog."

Juvia's face glowed bright red, and she placed a hand over her mouth. "J-J-Juvia did not realize Lucy and Natsu had that kind of relationship." She stammered out.

Lucy looked over to Juvia surprised, and blushed. In her head, she repeated the exact words she had just spoke aloud to Juvia, and her cheeks burned brighter. "W-Well. Most people just assumed we were dating so…" She clenched a pair of blue panties in her hands and muttered, "I really love him though."

Juvia's eyes lit up and she ran over to Lucy, throwing her arms around her. Lucy yelped, surprised to be the one being hugged this time, instead of the hugger. "Juvia is so very happy for Lucy!" She cheered.

"Th-Thanks Juvi—" Lucy started to stutter, before she was cut off.

"Now Juvia does not have to worry about Lucy stealing Gray! Lucy already has Natsu!" Juvia clenched one fist victoriously.

"Yeah, I was never interested in the first place." Lucy said flatly, used to dealing with this side of Juvia.

"Ah! How about that, Lucy?" Juvia announced, pointing over Lucy's shoulder with one hand and still hugging the blonde with the other.

Lucy turned in Juvia's grasp, and followed her pointed finger over to a bright red lingerie set, designed with flames all over. Lucy grimaced at the sight. "Are you kidding? That thing's so gaudy. No woman in their right mind would wear that." She growled, disgusted by it's very existence.

"Yes, but Natsu doesn't know that. Natsu would probably think it's amazing!" Juvia let go of the blonde and ran over to it, taking it off the rack. "It is available in all kinds of sizes! At least try it on, Lucy."

Lucy sighed, "Okay, fine." Then the blonde had an idea, "But only if Juvia will wear one too."

Juvia smiled, "Sure, Juvia will try something on. It will be fun."

Lucy grinned, "No, you misunderstand. I said _wear_ one. As in 'wear one _tomorrow_.'" She put extra emphasis on her last word, and watched as Juvia squirmed.

"B-B-But Gray will not be seeing Juvia's under—" Juvia began to stammer. Lucy placed a hand on her head to calm her.

"Relax. It's just an extra confidence boost. Gray doesn't have to see. Just find something strapless you like and try it on, and if it fits; _I_ will but it for _you._"

Juvia hesitated, but thought over Lucy's words. She just wanted to help Juvia—with her confidence and whatnot. There was no reason to turn her down. "Alright." Juvia agreed.

"Great!" Lucy patted her back, pulling down a pair of the gaudy flame print lingerie. "Tomorrow is going to be your best date ever!"

* * *

The coos of a morning dove worked as Juvia's alarm the following morning, dragging the water mage from her slumber. The bluenette rolled out of bed, slipping soft white slippers onto her feet and adjusting her translucent blue nightgown. She sleepily dragged her feet into her kitchen and opened the refrigerator, before pulling out a carton of orange juice, opening it, and then proceeding to chug the juice right from the container.

When she had her fill, Juvia closed the vessel and returned it to the fridge, before stretching her arms and yawning, letting her body awaken. As her arms returned to her side, she caught a glimpse of the mini calendar magnetized to her refrigerator door. Every day up until the 14th was scratched off. She swallowed hard. "Today is Juvia's day." She said to herself. "Juvia must prepare."

She about-faced and returned to her bedroom, where she lay out her dress and stockings, which she bought the day before, on her mattress. After some digging around in her closet, Juvia found a pair of shoulder length, red velvet gloves, and lied them down next to the dress. The young lady bit at her lip. She still needed shoes and something for her hair.

Juvia continued to search her room for additions to her outfit, wishing she hadn't been so flustered yesterday, and had looked for such things while she was in the mall. Finally, she came upon a pair of red stiletto heels, which she now remembered she had borrowed from Evergreen for a Halloween costume. It had been a while since she had worn them, but she was pretty confident that she would walk in them. And for her hair, Juvia found a white ribbon, which would match the white one on the dress perfectly. With the outfit and accessories laid out together, she gave a sigh of relief. She had a white clutch purse she could put her most important items in, which would go fine with the outfit. Everything was coming together.

Then Juvia's eyes fell upon the tiny bag from the lingerie store, which she hadn't opened since she left the store. Initially, she had planned on wearing a different bra with the dress, and just bought the bra to humor Lucy. However, when she arrived home, she realized she didn't own any other strapless bras, and had to give in to Lucy's wishes. She gave a sigh, and then took a deep breath.

"Lucy says Juvia can do this. Lucy would not lie to Juvia." She told herself. "Juvia just needs to keep up her confidence." She looked at the clock, '9:34' it read. The reservation was for 7 pm; Gray would be picking up Juvia at 6. She had all day to prepare herself.

The bluenette ran her hands through her hair, and then pulled the ends of her hair in front of her face. "Juvia supposes a shower is first in order." She told herself, and then slinked off to the restroom.

* * *

"6:12." Juvia read the clock in her living room. "Gray is late." She sat on her couch, her hair tied in a tight, round bun, with her white ribbon to its left side, keeping it in place. She wore her full outfit, and had already been wearing her heels for a half hour, having been practicing her strut in them before the scheduled pick up time, just to make sure she hadn't forgotten how to trek in them.

"What if Gray is standing Juvia up?" She whimpered, and then shook her head to remove those thoughts. "No. Gray would not do that. Gray is a gentleman. There must be a good reason."

Just then, the sound of her doorbell rang through the apartment, and Juvia's eyes lit up. Quickly, she came to her feet, and strutted over to the door. Wrapping her hand around the doorknob, she pulled the entrance open, to reveal Gray Fullbuster behind it.

Juvia's eyes traced Gray's frame. He wore a white polo with a short black vest over top. His shirt was neatly tucked into a pair of gray slacks and his feet were adorned with a snazzy pair of gray and black Oxford shoes. His favorite pendant dangled from his neck, on a longer chain than usual, which put in right above his heart.

Juvia opened her mouth to greet him, when her eyes finally met his, and her words didn't come out. Gray's eyes were wide, and intently staring upon her, quickly making the young lady self-conscious.

She put her hands behind her back, and bowed her head slightly, as she stepped towards him slightly. "Is anything wrong, Gray?" She asked softly.

Gray finally caught himself staring and shook himself out of it. "What? No. Uh—" He lifted his hand and held a bouquet of white roses out in front of Juvia. "Happy Valentine's Day, Juvia." He said quickly, using the flowers to hide his red cheeks.

Juvia squealed and took the flowers from him. "Oh, they're beautiful Gray! Juvia loves them!" She cheered. "Give Juvia a moment to put them in some water, and then we can go."

"Yeah, no problem." Gray said, and watched the young lady saunter off towards her kitchen. When he realized he was staring again, he coughed, trying to play it off. "Oh uh, sorry for being late. Your landlady gave me some real trouble about getting in here to your apartment. 'No stinking men in Fairy Hills! Even on Valentine's Day!' She kept shouting." Gray explained, looking around Juvia's apartment, "I bet that old hag has never had a Valentine's date in her life."

"Ms. Sunset has been happily married for twelve years." Juvia corrected him, and she reemerged into the living room, a vase filled with water and roses in tow. "And Gray should not say mean things about Ms. Sunset. She is always listening." She told him, and placed the vase down on a desk to the side of her sofa. "There, that is perfect." Juvia walked back to Gray's side, and she looked at the man, staring back in disbelief of the information she just shared with him. Juvia wrapped her arm around Gray's and gave him a smile. "Shall we go?"

"Uh, oh yeah. Let's go." The ice make mage stuttered, and then lead the young lady out the door.

* * *

Gray and Juvia walked side by side through the streets of Magnolia. They knew the restaurant was only a short walk away, and saw no reason to rent transportation for the night; prices were always hiked up on holidays anyway. As they walked, Juvia couldn't help but notice Gray seemed uneasy. He would clench his fist shut, or glare out the corner of his eye at a stranger.

She softly ran her fingers up his arm to get his attention. "Is everything alright, Gray?" She asked hesitantly.

She heard Gray growl, and nearly leapt a foot away from him, but when she attempted to, his arm slipped around her back and pulled her close to him. She stumbled from surprise, and then felt her cheeks grow warm. "Gray?" She asked again.

"It's fine. Just… walk close to me." He said, without looking down to her. He kept his arm around her back and they continued to walk, with their sides melding together. Juvia smiled peacefully, and decided to not ask anymore questions, as she made head comfortable against his chest, listening to his heart beat.

Juvia was in the same position, with her eyes shut in peaceful bliss, when Gray came to a stop. Her feet on autopilot, Juvia stumbled forward, and Gray caught her by the wrist before she fell. She brought herself to her feet and flushed with embarrassment.

"Careful." Gray said simply, and softly patted her head. Juvia didn't like it when he did that. It made her feel like a child. She wanted Gray to see her as anything but a child.

"We're here." He spoke again. Juvia's eyes lifted up to look where they were standing. A snow white building stood in front of them, the window decorated in stencils of white and silver snowflakes, and a sky blue sign shone in the dark: "Snowflake Plaza." She felt her heart fill with joy. She raised her hands to her cheeks and held in a squeal, and then looked at Gray, absolutely beaming. "Gray! Juvia has wanted to eat here since she was just a teeny tiny Juvia! I can't believe this is real!"

"Well, you better start believing it, because if we're any later for our reservation, they might give it away." Her date laughed.

Juvia gasped, not finding this news nearly as humorous as Gray, and grabbed his wrist, before running into the restaurant, dragging him behind. As soon as she saw someone who looked like they might be a host, she opened her mouth to introduce them, but the host spoke first.

"Table for two, for Ms. Juvia Lockser and Mr. Gray Fullbuster, I presume?"

Juvia shut her mouth, feeling very confused, and finally took a moment to examine her host. A tall thin man, with spiked white hair and thin black eyes, he smiled down upon her. "How are you, Juvia?"

"Lyon?" Juvia questioned, absolutely dumbfounded.

Gray finally caught his breath from Juvia dragging her in. "I was only kidding, Juvia." He gasped, "Lyon wouldn't give our seats away."

"Lyon?" Juvia asked again, her mind absolutely muddled.

"Well, I might give yours away." Lyon retorted, "To myself, of course."

"Dream on." Gray snapped back.  
"_Lyon?_" Juvia asked louder this time, bringing both of their attention to her.

Gray looked at her, and examined her puzzled expression. "Oh well, I was only able to get us a reservation because Lyon is working here part time." He explained.

"And _Lyon_ was only working here to save money up to invite _Juvia_ out on a Valentine's date _himself_." Lyon growled. He then looked at the well-dressed water mage with a soft countenance. "I didn't believe him when he said he was really going to bring you, Juvia. If he hadn't I really would have kept the reservation for the two of us."

Gray slipped his hand around Juvia's waist again, making the girl squeak. "Well, look who won." He gloated.

Juvia's face burned almost as red as her dress, but she clenched her fingers to Gray's polo, and looked up at Lyon shyly. "Juvia has told Lyon many times, Gray is the only one for Juvia."

Lyon looked at her in bewilderment, and then gave her a weak smile. "Well, can't blame a guy for trying." He responded. Juvia knew that smile. She used to wear it often—A smile to hide heartbreak. She frowned, making Gray frown too.

"Well, let me show you two to your seats." Lyon finally said, and led the couple into the dining area.

Juvia and Gray sat at the opposite sides of a small octagonal table, with the image of a snowflake printed on top. Juvia had noticed on the way in, that all the tables had different snowflake designs on them. She smiled at the little details. So far, the Snowflake Plaza had been all she ever dreams. Well, except for Lyon's broken hearted visage. That made her pout.

Once Gray was comfortable in his seat, he reached across the table, and ran his fingers over Juvia's gloved hand. The girl jumped in surprise, and then looked across at Gray, who chuckled, and then nodded apologetically.

"Hey Juvia, I just want you to know, I didn't use you as a bet against Lyon or anything." He said softly. Juvia stared back at him, she honestly hadn't thought that at all, but she was happy that he felt the need to explain himself. "I just… I didn't think he'd let us in any other way."

Juvia turned her hand over and squeezed his. "It is alright. Juvia knows Gray is not that kind of man."

Gray gave her a surprised look, and then flashed her a smile, which had the young lady's heart beating faster than she could stand. His smile was always too much for her.

"Hello, I'm Michelle. I'll be your waitress tonight." A young woman interrupted them, as she reached their table. "Ma'am, may I saw, you look absolutely lovely. That dress is perfect for the holiday."

Juvia blushed at her kind words. "Thank you." She said softly. Juvia could feel Gray squeeze her hand, and his pulse quicken. Why was Gray's heart beating faster when she was the one suddenly being praised?

"May I take your drink orders?" She asked.

Gray freed Juvia's hand from his grasp, and picked up his menu. He flicked his eyes over it, and then spoke. "We'll take a round of sparkling water." Juvia had made it very clear on their first date that she did not enjoy drinking alcohol—not even wine. She did not like the way it could take control of a person, and allow them to do things they would never do in a conscious state, so he chose something that would fit the mood, but not displease his date.

"Very good." Michelle said, and gave them a bow. "I will be back with those, and for your orders, shortly."

Juvia and Gray both thanked the young lady, and watched her walk off.

Juvia smiled over at Gray, who was examining the dinner menu. She watched the way his eyes explored the page, and the way the dim lighting of the restaurant gave his onyx irises a deep blue glint. The water mage sighed softly. She was so in love with this man, sometimes it absolutely pained her, but if she could have nights like this—even if only once in a millennia—she knew it was worth it.

"Thank you, Gray." Juvia said softly. The ice mage raised his eyes to her, and then leapt to his feet as he saw a tear run down her cheek.

"What's wrong? Why are you crying?" Gray asked in a panic. He reached across to wipe the tear away, but Juvia jerked her head back and wiped it up herself.

"Juvia is just very, very happy." She said, and smiled at him as another tear fell. "Juvia used to be afraid that Gray would never pay attention to her, but today, Gray is here to make Juvia happy." She sniffled into her palms, trying to wipe all of her tears away.

Gray leaned further across the table and pulled a hand away from her face, and took her glove by the finger, slowly dragging it off of her arm. He softly kissed her knuckles, causing the bluenette to gasp and blush.

"Gray…" She whispered.

"Please don't cry, Juvia. Even if you're happy, your rain drowns me." Gray mumbled into her fingers.

Juvia could feel his pulse quicken again. She could feel her chest tighten. "Gray…" She whispered again, "Juvia doesn't know why… but even though she has always wanted to be here, Juvia just wants to be with Gray now." She softly spoke her mind.

Gray took little time to leap out of his seat and snatch Juvia up in his arm, eliciting a yelp from the young woman. He dug a lacrima orb from his pocket and shook it until Natsu's face appeared on it.

"Get here in ten minutes and the table's yours." He said quickly, and then threw the orb behind him. Juvia could hear Natsu exclaiming, "What?! Really?! Lucy we gotta go!" as the ball rolled out of earshot.

Gray's arm, which had been around Juvia's torso, slipped under her butt before he lifted her off the floor and her weight fell upon his chest. Though she wasn't quite sure what was happening, she wrapped her arms around his neck to keep attached, pressing her breasts further against him. She heard him curse under his breath and he ran for the doorway with her in tow. As he passed his foster brother, he called out, "Thanks Lyon, gotta go!"

She saw another heartbroken smile on the young man, before it evolved into a real smile and he burst into laughter, which brought a smile to Juvia's face.

As Gray broke out onto the sidewalk, the cold air hit Juvia, and she flinched against Gray's chest. The young man looked both ways, and then started running down the street until he saw a horse and buggy parked by the road.

The ice make mage ran up to the buggy with his date in his arms. "Are you working?" He asked, running short on break.

The gentleman in the driver's seat looked up from the horse he was stroking to Gray. "Well, I was on break, but we could get back to work for a famous mage like Gray Fullbuster." He said with a smile, and looked back to his horse, "Couldn't we Cinnamon?" The horse whinnied in response. The driver turned his head back to Gray, "Go ahead and get in while I hook her up. Where are we headed?"

"Back to my place." Juvia felt her face grow red as she heard Gray speak those words. She heard the door open and felt Gray place her softly on the seat, but her mind was absolutely lost in thought.

_Gray's… house._ She repeated in her head.

"Is that Juvia Lockser you have there? So the rumors about you two are true are they?" The nosey diver asked, as he took his seat and gave the reins a whip before the horse began to trot ahead.

"You could say that." Gray said in response.

Juvia stared upon Gray as he continued to make small talk with the driver. He had obviously ridden with this man before, and they were able to keep up a conversation. Juvia's eyes examined his kind eyes, then his lips, and then they fell upon his neck; his Adam's apple vibrated as he gave a laugh.

Juvia could barely control herself around him any longer. She leaned in close and place a soft kiss at the base of his throat. Gray's words instantly came to a halt and he inhaled sharply. His hand wrapped around hers and he whispered in a husky voice. "Juvia… Keep that up and we won't make it home."

The water mage continued to gaze upon Gray with wanton eyes. Her blue eyes fell from his onyx pair, down to his lips, and she bit at her own. She interlaced her fingers with his and held back her urge to kiss him. A first kiss in an old horse buggy didn't seem very romantic, she told herself, besides, she still didn't know if Gray even wanted her like she wanted him—or as much. Though that seemed impossible.

Gray leaned down towards her and pressed his forehead against his, mussing his bangs with hers. He smiled at her and her heart fluttered. She could wait. She really could.

The buggy came to a sudden halt and Juvia fell face forward into Gray's chest. The young man just chucked in response.

"We've arrive, Mr. Fullbuster." The driver spoke.

Gray looked up from the young lady rubbing her nose with her hand, to find that they were indeed outside of his house. He reached to his left and opened the cab door, stepping out before offering Juvia a hand. The young lady took his invitation and stepped down and out of the buggy with his help. Gray handed the driver his due, along with a healthy tip, and bowed goodnight to the man, before they watched the horse trot off with the cab behind it.

Gray looked at Juvia, and watched as she slowly realized what kind of situation she was in. Her expression was timid, and her cheeks flushed. He smiled down at her, which she couldn't help but respond to with a smile of her own. Then, he slipped an arm under her butt again, lifting her off the ground and running for his doorway. Gray struggled with the lock with only one hand, but managed to get the door open, and as soon as he stepped inside, he turned around, closed the door and dropped Juvia in front of it, before stepping close to the girl. Too close. Uncomfortably close. Except Juvia wasn't uncomfortable. She ran her hands along his cheek, and he turned his head and kissed her fingers again.

"Juvia…" Gray breathe into her palm, his hand pulling the glove from her free hand.

"Yes, Gray?" She asked softly, running her hand up and into his hair.

"I love you."

Juvia's hand stopped where it was. She could feel tears forming in the corners of her eyes. "What did Gray just say?" Though she had clearly heard him, but she needed confirmation.

"I've loved you for a long time." Gray's hands ran up her sides. "It's just, you're so brave to tell me every day that you love me. For me, it's not so easy to say these things."

Juvia felt tears falling down her cheeks, this time, when he reached his hand up to wipe them away, she made to attempt to stop him.

"Juvia, I want to kiss you, and touch you, and hold you, but I had to tell you first." He whispered, "I love you, Juvia Lockser."

Juvia couldn't think of a word to say. Gray already knew she loved him—everyone did. So instead, her clenched his hair with her hand that had wandered up to it, and pulled him down to her mouth, crashing his into hers.

Grays gasped against her lips, and then wrapped his arms around her, kissing her back. Juvia put her years of unrequited love, years of tears and hopes into her kiss. She felt his tongue caress her lips, and she quickly allowed him entrance. His tongue met hers and she felt like she might melt in his touch—which she very well could have if she didn't keep control of her magic. Gray pressed her harder against the door and his teeth clacked against her. She moaned into his mouth, hanging onto his hair for, what seemed like, dear life. She couldn't let go; she didn't want this moment to end.

But it had to eventually. Gray separated his mouth from hers and panted against her lips.

"Gray is… better than Juvia ever imagined." She gasped, her lips begging for more. Gray chuckled and ran his hands up her hips, his fingers slipping under her short dress.

"Tch…" He sucked his teeth. "This dress is no good."

Juvia's eyes looked sad. She had looked so long for the perfect dress, but just as she had worried, Gray hated it.

"No. It's _too_ good." He corrected himself. Juvia looked up to his eyes with wonder. "Every man we passed on the way to the restaurant was staring. It absolutely drove me insane."

Juvia gasped in understanding. "Is that why Gray growled?"

Gray looked at her with a bit of shock in his eyes. "Did I really do that?" He asked.

Juvia started to giggle. Gray laughed along with her. Juvia pressed herself closer to Gray and laced her hands around his neck. "If it's no good, what is Gray going to do about it?" She asked with a mischievous smile.

"Yes… I wonder." Gray said slyly. Juvia had not even noticed Gray's hand trace up her back, and before she knew it, he had yanked the zipper to her dress down and it instantly fell around her feet.

"Graaay!" Juvia screamed and wrapped her hands around her breasts, trying to hide them from his eyes, while she tried to cover her legs with one another, still covered in the thin, translucent fabric of her stockings.

Gray instantly realized that this was a way better idea in his head than in practice. Juvia's voluptuous breasts were more than he could handle when clothed, but now—uncovered and being squeezed together by the young lady—he couldn't even look away. His eyes roved over her body, taking in every detail. His eyes were half way down her thighs when he noticed she was shivering. Crap. He'd totally forgotten it was just him who was immune to cold.

Gray gathered Juvia up in a tight hug and put his chin atop her head. "Sorry, sorry. Bad idea." He apologized. "I've got some blankets in my room. Why don't we—" Gray felt Juvia completely halt in his arms. Her heart started racing and he could feel her entire body become hot as she thought about his words.

"Don't worry." He pressed his lips against her forehead, which was just as red hot as the rest of her body. "We don't have to do anything you don't want to. I just don't want you to catch a cold because of me."

Juvia sighed into his shoulder and composed herself. "Juvia wants to stay the night with Gray. Juvia wants to wake up next to Gray. Juvia just isn't ready too…"

Gray softly kissed her lips. "Say no more." He whispered, and then slipped one arm under her knees and the other behind her shoulders and lifted the young lady off the floor princess style. Juvia squealed with delight and slipped her arm around his waist again.

Gray walked her down the hallway and pushed his bedroom door open with his foot. He trotted in and softly laid Juvia down upon the mattress. Without taking his hands out from under her, Gray kicked his shoes off and crawled onto the bed, looming over her. Juvia realized that she did not remember kicking her stilettos off, but they were gone now. She wasn't even sure if they had made it back to Gray's home with her. Evergreen would be very irritated if they had not.

But when she looked up to Gray's visage above her, she could not care. She watched his eyes begin to explore her, before he slipped a hand out from under her and began to pull and blanket up over her. He stopped with the blanket barely over her stomach and said. "This is cute." He dropped the blanket on her belly and ran a finger along the rim of her strapless bra. "Did you buy this for tonight?" He asked.

The bra, and hidden matching panties, was a light powder blue, decorated with a snowflake pattern, a perfect partner with tonight's date.

Juvia blushed deeply as she watch his fingers continue to run around the edge of the fabric. "Gray was not supposed to see…"

Gray chuckled, "Sorry, couldn't help myself." He said, and finished pulling the blanket up over her, before slipping under it himself and curling closer to her.

"Juvia will forgive Gray…" She sighed, "but only if Gray kisses Juvia again."

Gray smirked, and leaned over the young lady, who leaned up towards him. "I think we can manage that." He breathed onto her lips, before leaning in to devour her.

* * *

Juvia strode into Fairy Tail the next day, feeling incredibly cheerful. Before she even had a chance to look around, she heard her name being called out.

"Juvia!" Lucy came running up to her from the bar and threw her arms around the water mage's neck excitedly. "Oh, Juvia! I can't thank you enough. I had the most wonderful night at the Snowflake Plaza last night, and it's all thanks to you." She smiled at Juvia with teary eyes.

"And even better, Natsu didn't totally destroy my ugly lingerie! He said '_this is way better then the other ones you wear._'" Lucy spoke in a deeper voice as she attempted to imitate Natsu. "He _did_ notice the other one's he just didn't care for them! I may never wear cute underwear again with his taste." She laughed, slapping Juvia on the shoulder as the bluenette laughed along with her.

"Juvia is very happy to hear that, Lucy." She giggled.

"Um, Juvia…" Lucy started, and gave her friend a once-over, "It looks like I wasn't the only one to get some action last night." She snickered.

Juvia was dressed in a oversized, men's white shirt, and a black pair of pants, with a belt, also a few sizes to big, clumsily tightened around her waist. The blue haired beauty blushed brightly. "Juvia forgot to stop at home for a change of clothes!" She said out loud, her face turning pink.

"Ohoho, so it's truuue~" Lucy sneered at her.

"N-No!" Juvia sputtered, "Juvia just had… a lot of kiss marks." She said, shyly covering her clothed breasts.

Lucy raised an eyebrow at the girl curiously. "Aaaand you're saying you _didn't_ get any action?" She asked again.

"No!" Juvia squeaked, and ran her hand down her shirt before pulling at its ends sheepishly. "Juvia is still… a virgin." She spoke so quietly that Lucy had to lean in towards her to hear.

"Oooh, you're so cute, Juvia." Lucy teased. Juvia blushed and pouted with puffed up cheeks.

"Yeah she is." Gray's voice came from behind Juvia, before she felt his hand slip down her side and onto her butt. Juvia spun her head around to the young man's face. "G-Gray!" She squealed, before he leaned in and pressed his lips against hers. Gasps erupted from all around the guild, followed by an intense and sudden amount of cheering and hooting.

Juvia pulled away from Gray with a bright red face as she heard her guild mate's cheer out. "Way to go, Juvia! You did it!"

The bluenette hugged onto Gray tightly. "Gray! Juvia is so happy!" She cheered, and looked up to him; this time she didn't shed tears. Gray smiled down at her, and she was sure his heart was beating just as fast as hers.

**End**


	9. Love Bites (Elfever)

**Series:** Fairy Tail

**Pairings:** Elfman Strauss/Evergreen

**Title:** Love Bites

**Prompt:** Hanging out with Friends

**Rating:** T for Teen

**Word Count:** 1730

**AN:** Mentions of NaLu, Gruvia and Gajevy

Evergreen sat comfortably upon the couch in her living room. To her right sat Levy McGarden; the petite girl petting Pantherlily, who was fast asleep in her lap. One the floor, at Ever's feet, sat two large cushions, one blue in color, and the other pink, both belonging to her other two guests.

"Juvia is done! Juvia has finished first!" The water mage called in third person from the kitchen.

"Same here. " Lucy's voice followed, "Juvia, this isn't a competition."

Evergreen could hear something that sounded like Juvia blowing a raspberry at the blonde, and then they two women came out of the kitchen laughing. Juvia had a plate of bread rolls in her hands, and Lucy had a pan of cookies. Levy lifted her hand from her exceed friend, up to her lips as she giggled at them. Evergreen rolled her eyes with a smile.

"Juvia is very happy that everyone is allowing her to test the new and improved Gray bread on them!" The bluenette cheered, and placed her plate on the stand next to the couch. Evergreen took a glance at them to find that only one of the "Gray Breads" actually had Gray drawn on it. There was one with Natsu, another with Gajeel, and one with Elfman drawn on it too.

The brunette narrowed her eyes, _Elf-Bread?_ She thought, and held in a chuckle.

"Yes, and thank you for trying my lava cookies." Lucy said, and placed her tray next to Juvia's treats, "It's been a while since I tried to make these… they might be a little spicy though."

Evergreen eyed the cookies. They were black on top, and orange on bottom. In the lighter area of the cookies, little dots of red spices could be seen mixed into the baked dough. She made a mental note to avoid those for as long as possible.

"The uh, 'Gray bread' first then." She said. Ever had made it clear during her last shindig that, when she was host, her word was law.

The other ladies nodded their heads. Levy leaned past Evergreen and picked up the roll of bread with everyone's favorite steel dragon slayer doodled on it. Lucy and Juvia both grabbed up the snack with their respective soul mates on them, and then Ever was the last to lift the final roll with her boyfriends mug printed on it.

Evergreen hesitated for a moment, then closed her eyes and took a bite into the bread. It was sweeter than she imagined, though not too much so. Its texture was soft and it didn't stick to the top of her mouth. Overall, it wasn't too bad.

The fairy mage opened her eyes to take a look at the other ladies around her. Levy looked quite serene, nibbling quietly at her bread, crumbs falling past the patterned fabric tied around her neck—which oddly enough appeared to be a headband of Gajeel's—and onto the head of the sleeping critter on her lap.

Lucy was smiling and taking big bits of her roll, her crumbs gathering in the pink scarf she had wrapped multiple times around her neck.

Then, of course, Juvia could not contain her excitement of seeing Gray on her treat, so much so that she was having trouble taking the first bite. Evergreen rolled her eyes as she saw the young woman give the bread a little kiss, before wiping her kiss mark away with the handkerchief tied around her nape.

Evergreen raised an eyebrow once she had finished her observation. She took another bite of the bread, and then spoke up. "Hey, what's with you ladies' neckwear? Is this some new fangled fashion trend?"

All three of the ladies suddenly gagged on their bread,

Levy started coughing roughly, surprising Pantherlily and causing the cat to fuss over her. Lucy was trying to help Juvia, who had decided to shove the entire bun into her mouth at just the wrong moment.

Evergreen wore a puzzled, but almost disgusted look. "What was all that?"

Juvia had just started breathing again and didn't have the air to answer, so Levy started.

"Well, you know…" She mumbled, holding a hand over the right side of her neck, her cheeks stained red. "It's not really because we want to show off the scarves…"

"It's just embarrassing, you know." Lucy said, before the smallest girl of the group had finished.

Juvia took a deep breath, "Juvia would not cover them, but Gray insists."

Evergeen stared at all the women with narrow eyes, "And by _them_ you mean…?"

"Love bites." Levy mumbled blushing.

"Kiss marks." Juvia sang.

"Hickies." Lucy stated, rather matter-of-factly.

Evergreen made no attempt to hide her embarrassment; partially from their bluntness; partially from taking so long to catch on.

"Gray's are very cold—like snowflakes. Sometime's they turn Juvia's neck blue." The water mage said proudly, holding one hand to her cheek with a dreamy look in her eyes.

"You're got it lucky." Lucy groaned, "With Natsu, I run the risk of getting burn marks if he doesn't control himself." She ran her fingers under her scarf with a sigh. "He's just lucky I love him so much."

"Gajeel doesn't really know… when to stop." Levy said shyly, running her fingers down from her neck, and over the gray sweater she wore, hiding the rest of her torso. "I may never be able to wear deep necked shirts again." The sold script made gave a sigh, and ruffled the fur on Lily's head in irritation.

The three ladies looked to their host with wondering eyes. Juvia was the first to speak, "Doesn't Elfman give them to Ever?"

"What?" Evergreen asked with dusty red cheeks. She reached up and put a hand to each side of her neck, "Tch. Like I'd let that idiot mark my beautiful skin." She glared in another direction, "besides, the oaf is rarely ever home before I go to bed anymore anyway."

"Elfman has to do a lot of extra work now that Evergreen cannot work." Juvia said, before gaining a twinkle in her eye. "Those are the joys of motherhood."

"Tch." Evergreen sucked her teeth. "I didn't ask to be pregnant."

"Well you didn't try that hard not to be either." Lucy mumbled flatly.

"What was that?" Evergreen growled, glaring at the blonde with her fingers on the rim of her glasses.

"N-nothing!" Lucy laughed nervously, "Hey! Why don't we try the lava cookies?" The stellar spirit mage jumped to her feet, quick to change the subject, and picked up her pan of cookies. She gave one to each of the women in the room—and one to Pantherlily, though he was barely conscious—before taking one up herself. "Alright everyone, on one, dig in!"

"3… 2…1!"

The screams of fire and need of water filled the house, followed by Evergreen promptly kicking the other young ladies out of her house, outlawing "lava cookies" from her residence indefinitely.

Evergreen's room was dark with night when the sound of keys at the front door brought her out of her slumber. She continued to pretend to sleep as she heard the footsteps of her beloved trek through the living room, and held in a chuckle when she heard him stub a toe against something and softly cry "Ow ow ow… that was very unmanly…"

When Elfman opened the bedroom door, she heard him sigh. A happy sigh; it made her smile, though she faced the other direction, and was able to hide it. She listened to the sounds of him shuffling off his jacket, and then stepping closer to the bed.

The mattress shifted as he kneeled on it—it shifted to much. To Evergreen's surprise, she found herself tumbling over to him as he weighed down the bed with both his hands and knees on it.

Evergreen glared up at him with a pout, as he smiled down chuckling. "I knew you were awake." He whispered.  
"Idiot. Do you know what time it is?" Ever grumbled.

"Sorry, sorry." He apologized, and removed one knee from the bed. The weight shifted again and Evergreen moved herself to a more comfortable position, before she saw Elfman leaning in for a kiss.

She let the hulk of a man lay soft, caring kisses on her lips. Evergreen reached her hand up and ran her fingers through his sideburns, moaning into his mouth as he deepened the kiss. As she tangled tongues with Elfman, she felt his hand run down over her stomach, and felt him smile into their kiss.

Evergreen tried not to chuckle at his softness, and she then broke off from his mouth with a sigh. Elfman smiled upon her, before crawling into bed beside her, pulling her blanket over his shoulder. Ever cuddled closer, as her lover's mass tended to hog the blankets, and then stared upon the corner of his neck.

"Hey Elf." She whispered.

"Yeah, Ever?" He responded, in just as soft of a voice.

"Do you own a scarf?" The brunette asked.

"Yeah. But why? It's almost summer—" Elfman's words were cut off by his own surprise as Evergreen pressed her lips softly against his neck, before nipping him softly. She opened her mouth wider upon his flesh and sucked at his neck. The man let out a grunt, and ran his hand up her back, bringing her closer to him, before she nipped him once more and then let go.

"…What was that for?" Elfman asked, wincing at the waning pain of her nibbles.

Evergreen rested her head against his chest as if she had done nothing. "I just wanted to mark you as mine." Her arm wrapped around his chest.  
"I don't think you have to worry." Elfman laughed self-conciously, "No one else wants a manly guy like me."

"Don't talk about yourself like that." Evergreen spat, and dug her nails into his back, making sure he groaned before she let go. "You're perfect, and I love you."

Elfman blushed lightly, always surprised when Evergreen peaked out from under her pride to remind him that she adored him.

"Sorry. I love you too, Ever." He whispered softly, and then ran his hand over the young woman's face as she dozed off in his arms.

**The End**


	10. Pink Stripes (Jerza)

**Hello Everyone, and thank you for reading all my fics thus far! I got a couple reviews over the last couple days, and I wanted to thank everyone for leaving them for me. Your words mean very much to me.**

**I also wanted to respond to one in particular. LiveTake: Thank you so very much! Reading that you like my Evergreen makes me so very happy. I have always been fond of emotionally withdrawn characters-especially females-the way they keep their true feelings hidden, locked behind a steel door, and you have to always guess what they're thinking is so wonderful to me. Ever is so held in, while Juvia cannot help but let her feelings out, they work as perfect foils for each other, and that's why they're my two favorite Fairy Tail girls. You'll find that there will be quite a few ElfEver fics in the second half of the challenge, so I hope you continue to enjoy reading them.**

**Today, however, is a Jerza fic. It's the first I've ever wrote for them, and I'm not particularly proud of it, but I hope everyone can enjoy it. See you tomorrow!**

* * *

**Series:** Fairy Tail

**Pairing:** Jellal Fernandes/Erza Scarlet

**Title: **Pink Stripes

**Prompt:** Animal Ears

**Rating: **E for Everyone

**Word Count: **809

**AN: **Modern College AU. Set in the same universe as Day 7. My first Jerza fic, I did a lot of studying(?) to write it, so I hope it's worth the read! Enjoy!

The sound of rustling plastic bags trickled throughout Erza's dorm room as she unpacked the spoils of her shopping trip. She was assigned one direction from Levy: "Buy a princess outfit for yourself and the matching prince for Jellal. Gajeel might not go along with it if everyone isn't in on this!"

Erza could easily follow such a direction, but letting the young woman into any kind of clothing shop without super vision was never a good idea. Everyone knew Erza loved clothes. She had so many different outfits that every school break, she would go home and exchange her entire closet's worth of clothing for another of the same amount, in the hopes that she might be able to wear them all in one year—and she did not discriminate when it came to costumes.

One Halloween in particular—during her last year of high school—Erza had attended four costume parties, and had bought a brand new outfit for each one. Her friends would try to convince her to sell them, telling her Halloween costumes only made sense to be worn once a year, and she had far too many to keep buying them, but Erza would always tell them as flatly as she could muster. 'No. These costumes are covered in memories. I cannot sell my memories.'

So it was no surprise that Erza's shopping trip brought her back to the dorm with three outfits, instead of just the two. With sparkling eyes, Erza unearthed the gem that she was looking for: a pink leotard with black tiger stripes. From it's hanger dangled a pink and black tail, and a band with matching ears attached.

"Yes. This is absolutely perfect." Erza told herself, and began stripping off her casual wear, excited to try on her new outfit.

From her own collection, Erza found a pink pair of transparent leggings and some pink fuzzy boots. She assembled her new outfit and pulled it over her body, finding it all fit perfectly. The red head stared at herself, in her full length mirror, as she tied her hair into a high ponytail, before spinning around to get a full view of her outfit. The back of the leotard ended further down than she expected, exposing quite a bit of her back, though she could not care much

"This outfit was definitely made for me." Erza spoke to herself again. "But I absolutely cannot let the others know about this. It would be too embarrassing." Erza's cheeks turned red as she imagined Lucy's laughter and Natsu and Gray's teasing (though she would put a fist to both those boys' heads and put them in their place.)

In her excitement over her ensemble, Erza didn't hear the sound of unhinging locks, or the turning of the doorknob.

Erza smiled as an embarrassing thought came to her mind, and she turned to her side and held her hands up like cat paws, posing with one hand higher in the air than the other, and let out a "Meow! Welcome home Myaster!"

Erza had expected to laugh at herself, however, just as those words left her lips, her eyes fell upon the blue haired man standing in her open doorway, a plate of cake in his hand. Erza's face grew pale.

"I uh… brought you cake?" Jellal asked with a puzzled face.

Erza's pale face began to burn red. Without saying another word, the young lady snatched up the clothes she had been wearing before and dashed into her bathroom. She emerged not even a minute later, dressed in her regular clothes again.

Erza walked speechlessly up to Jellal, and pushed the door closed behind him, before picking up the fork off his plate and taking a bite of the offered cake.

"It…was cute?" He said nervously.

Erza brown eyes snapped up from her cake to his own golden orbs. "You didn't see anything." She ordered him.

Jellal could feel a line of sweat run down his cheek as his girlfriend glared upon him, her cool demeanor at risk. "Of course, Erza." He laughed nervously.

The Erza's deadly expression suddenly changed to a sunny one, and she spun over to her shopping bags, fork hanging from her mouth. "Now come look at the wonderful costumes I bought for us!" She held a pink and red kimono in one hand, and a gray and white faux armor in the other, a red care draped over the latter. "I'll be Mulan and you'll be Shang! We're all going to have so much fun at this party."

_We should really talk about your shopping impulses, Honey._ Is what Jellal wanted to say, but he was pretty sure he wasn't ready to deal with the consequences of his words. So instead, he laughed in defeat, and stepped closer to admire the costumes his girlfriend had bought them.

**End**


	11. Punishment Game (Gruvia)

**Series:** Fairy Tail

**Pairing:** Gray Fullbuster/Juvia Lockser

**Title:** Punishment Game

**Prompt:** Wearing Kigurumis (animal pajamas)

**Rating: **E for Everyone

**Word Count: **390

**AN: **Inpsired by a fanart by NG on pixiv.

Gray couldn't believe he had gotten himself into this situation. When he challenged Juvia to a "punishment game" with the bet of "the loser does whatever the winner wants," he had no plans of losing. But even if he had predicted the outcome correctly, this definitely wasn't the kind of punishment he expected from the doting water mage.

"Are you sure I have to wear this…?" The ice mage asked in a disgusted tone. He looked down over his outfit. A far oversized one-piece pajama suit, blue in color with a big white patch over the tummy. It had a long blue tail with a white tip at the end.

"All day!" Juvia chirped as she ran up behind him and pulled the cat-eared hood over his head. The young lady then spun around in front of him too show off her own clothing choice: another pajama set, this one white in color, with it's own long tail and eared hoodie. "Juvia is Carla and Gray is Happy!" She sang.

"I'm anything but…" Gray grumbled under his breath. When Juvia bet him that she could make a better likeness of him just from water, than he could have ice; it just sounded ridiculous! He could mold his ice into anything. But he shouldn't have doubted his stalker. Her floating, bubbling creation was perfect—much more impressive than the half sized bust that he had mustered up.

And when she had sang out her victory, he expected to be forced on a date, or asked for a kiss, anything a hopeless romantic like Juvia might spit out. He never expected her to pull out a couple of clothes hangers with cat suits on them.

"What is with these things anyway?" Gray asked, staring at the cat paws that had replaced his human fists. "Why do you even own them, Juvia?"

"Oh well…" Juvia held her paws up to her cheeks and blushed, "Juvia just knew Gray would look adorable as Happy, but Juvia didn't want Gray to be all alone in his cute outfit, so Juvia bought one for herself."

Gray couldn't believe the words escaping the lass's mouth. "How… How long have you been planning this?"

Juvia giggled and stuck his tongue out at him. "Juvia cannot tell Gray tha~~at."

Gray decided he was actually alright not knowing afterall.

**End**


	12. Sunset's Promise (Jerza)

**Hi again everyone. Just one reply this time before we get onto our fic today.**

**Dis-Appearing Writer - Thank you very much. I am a girl, though asking "God? Goddess?" Is a really round about way of asking. Haha. Also, please don't call me such things. I am actually incredibly self absorbed, and it's bad to feed my ego. There are many fanfiction writers who I look up to, and who I believe do a better job that me. Plus writing prose is just a hobby for me, I think people who have a real interest in writing as a career are far more godly than I.**

Onto the fic now!  


* * *

**Series:** Fairy Tail

**Pairing:** Jellal Fernandes/Erza Scarlet

**Title: **Sunset's Promise

**Prompt:** Making Out

**Rating:** T for Teen

**Word Count: **2145

**AN: **I remember so little of early Fairy Tail, I have to do a lot of reading up to write for these two, but I think it really paid off this time! I really enjoyed writing it! Enjoy!

Brown eyes traced the rim of the full glass of wine sitting in front of Erza Scarlet—the glass within her vision, but not her sight. Erza's thoughts was full of images created by her mind: memories of a red sunset, fireflies buzzing, waves crashing against the shore, and a handsome young man kneeling in front of her. The requip mage let out a soft sigh, and ran her finger around the edge of her drink.

"Erza, are you blushing?" Mirajane's mischievous voice asked from the opposite side of the bar.

Erza's mind was torn out of her fantasy as she sat up with straight posture in response to the sudden question. She didn't know how to answer such an inquiry. Was she blushing? She surely hadn't noticed. Maybe it was better _not_ to answer at all.

"Why would I be blushing?" Erza asked, brushing a hand through her scarlet hair, which she was named after. "Have I a reason to be?"

"Oh. I wouldn't know…" Mira said, her mind trailing off to another question. "How many days has it been since we returned from Tenrou island?"

"3 weeks, 2 day, 16 hours, 34 minutes, and 23 seconds and counting." The red head answered with a deadpan expression. Her cheeks grew rosy again. _Tenrou Island._

"Well… that was specific." Mirajane leaned in close to her friend with a curious look in her eyes, "Any… reason, Miss 'Titania?'"

"No. It is just very important to keep track of important dates as such." The red haired mage kept the flat expression glued to her countenance.

"Hrmmm…" The white haired woman sneered, not quite convinced, but stood up strait again. "Oh. It appears Mystogan has returned."

Erza flinched at that name, but didn't turn her head. "Haha." She mocked Mira, "Like you could get me with that."

"No, really. He just walked in." Her friend responded, and pointed towards the door. "…Why would that 'get' you?" Mirajane gave Erza a disconcerting look.

Erza bit her tongue. She was right. Why would Mirajane have any reason to think Mystogan would cause Erza to be excited? She tried to think of an excuse, and spit out the first thing she could think of, "Um, because I owe him money. You knew that, right? Of course you did Mira, you know everything" Erza rambled on, not letting the barmaid speak, "I should really go talk to him about that. Talk to you later."

With that said, Erza quickly spun in her seat and leapt to the floor. In a flash, she requipped from her regular casual blouse and skirt, into an orange maid dress (with a very low neck line) with a frilly white apron, and trotted towards the caped man who had just entered the guild.

"Erza…?" Mirajane questioned as the young lady stepped out of earshot.

Erza kept walking closer to the new attendee of the guild, her heart racing faster the she came towards him. Natsu, however, reached the man before her, and began to act chummy with him: Elbowing 'Mystogan' on the side and rambling on about great missions he had been on recently.

The man in the mask barely listened to the dragon slayer chattering around him, and when he looked up from the pink haired man, his eyes locked on Erza's. The young woman's heart skipped a beat and she walked fasted, punching Natsu to the other side of the guild as soon as he was within reach.

"Hello, Mystogan. It's been a while since you stopped by." Erza said flipping her fingers through her hair self consciously as he stared down upon her outfit.

"You shouldn't draw attention to us so quickly, Miss Titania." He spoke to her in a hushed voice. "You might start up some incriminating rumors."

Erza's heart sank. She knew he was right though. A lot of the guild knew about her lingering feelings for Jellal. If she began to act sweet around another, someone could put two and two together and cause a real problem. She pouted and looked down apologetically.

"I just came to gather some information, and then I'll be leaving again." His voice trailed through her ears. The masked man began to walk around her, but as he did, she felt him slip something into her hand, and he whispered close to her ear. "See you tonight."

Erza's face burned red with the insinuations of his words, and she clamped her hands shut until she could no longer hear his footsteps over the loud atmosphere of the hall. When she was sure no one was paying them mind anymore, she walked to an empty booth and opened her palm. In it was a scrap of paper with an address scribbled on it, and a time "732 Baker St, 7:30 pm." She smiled, and looked forward to the oncoming evening.

Erza rocked back and forth on her gold heels, leaning against the door, outside of her apartment in Fairy Hills. She was dressed to the nines: a gold sequined dress with only a left shoulder strap; the gown draped gracefully over her breasts and then gathered to the right side, then fell in an angle, long on the left, knee length to the right. She wore a pearl necklace and matching earrings, and on the top of her head a gold tiara with tiny, pale pink feathers adorning each side.

Her eyes flicked up to the hall clock: "6:45." Was it too early to head out? She was already set to go, though dressing never took the young lady much time. She had touched up her make up. She had brushed her hair 100 times—as instructed by Lucy. She had even taken the time to paint her nails white. But she was _still_ done too early.

Erza sighed. Jellal probably wouldn't arrive early. Standing around for too long would attract attention; and he couldn't risk that. If she arrived too early, she _could_ wait for him, but she might instead gather too much attention, and the man would have to avoid the area. Was this worth all the effort?

Erza's mind sent her back to the sunset of Tenrou island again to remind her: Yes. Yes it was.

With that in mind, Erza took a deep breath and headed down the stairs of Fairy Hills. She could take the long way about walking to the given address, and manage to arrive without too much extra time. The walk would help her sort out her thoughts. It was definitely worth a shot, at least.

As Erza walked down the city streets, nearing her destination, she found herself walking past town house after town house. Though she had perceived an idea of where she was headed, she still thought there might have been a tiny restaurant, hidden away from wondering eyes, where they could have shared a meal together. Maybe such an ordinary date was too much to expect for a man running from the law.

As Titania reached the end of the street, she saw an old woman outside of her house, sweeping her porch. Erza stepped close and spoke up. "Excuse me, Ma'am. Sorry to bother you, but can you direct me to 732 Baker street?" She asked.

The senior citizen looked at her with a puzzled frown. "I'm sorry, Miss, but Baker street ends here, with 730." She pointed at her own house's street number. "All that's past here are the grassy hills of Baker street."

She gazed out to the green mounds of land, both close and leading out into the distance. "We call them the sunset hills, because they're quite the site at just the right time of day."

Erza stared out into the same hills, and thought about the last sunset she had carved into her heart. "Thank you ma'am, that's all I needed to know." She said, and bowed politely to the elderly lady, before trekking out towards the hills.

Erza walked until she found a hill that she considered to peak the highest amongst all others, and brought herself to a seated position upon the grass. "I hope I understood Jellal's message, and he didn't just make a mistake." She sighed to herself, and rested her chin in her hands.

"You understood quite perfectly." A familiar male voice trailed in from behind.

Erza nearly jumped from her seat, but forced herself to hold together her composure, and instead turned her head to watch Jellal stride up beside her. He had discarded his mask and cape, and she thought he might sparkle in the sunlight—though that might have just been the reflections off her dress. She gazed up into his golden eyes and let out a long awaited sigh.

"That dress looks beautiful in the light, Ms. Scarlet." He said softly, and then came down to a sitting position beside her. He crossed his legs, before she set her palm upon the one closer to her, and scooted towards him.

"It appears I may be over dressed." She said softly, still gazing upon his features.

"Nonsense." He replied.

Erza brought her face closer to his, and her hand travelled off from his leg and over his hand, squeezing it lightly. "Jellal… You were _lying_ about having a fiancé, right?" She asked boldly.

Jellal chuckled. "Of course." Then he sighed, as her lips neared his, "I still don't deserve you, after all I've done."

"That is for me to decide." Erza whispered against his lips, and then closed the gap, softly pressing her mouth against his. But it wasn't enough—she couldn't let him push her away again, she had waited too long for him. Erza wrapped her arms around the man's shoulders, and with a tight pull and a soft hop, she brought herself into his lap. The man gasped at the sudden closeness, and Erza took advantage of the moment and pushed her tongue past his lips.

Jellal moaned softly into her mouth and leaned into the kiss. His hand ran down her back as his tongue met hers and tasted her for the first time. She only separated from him for a split second, to turn her head and take a sharp breath, before diving into his mouth again.

Erza could feel herself being pushed down upon the grassy earth, but gave little mind, as she continued to nurse his lips with her. She felt his breath getting heavy, and slowly departed from his mouth, which nibbled at her lip before she moved away.

Erza found herself laying on her back against the hill, Jellal leaning over her. Her face flushed, realizing she had lost all control as their kisses had carried on. The feeling of soft lips at the pit of her neck caused her to yelp. She inhaled deeply as Jellal laid butterfly kisses up along her collarbone, and kept her hands wrapped around his neck, digging her fingers into his skin.

Jellal's kisses began travelling lower this time, and fell further and further until he came to her bosom, of which her dress had let expose. Erza breathed in sharply as he kissed her breast softly, and her nails dug deeper into the back of his neck. She heard him chuckle and she suddenly became too aware of how hot her face burned.

His lips left her chest and his face traveled back up to hers. "Not now, Erza Scarlet. Not here." He whispered. Erza continued to blush, and averted her eyes from his. "But someday, when I am truly worthy of you, I will come and make you my own." Jellal slid his hands under he back and pulled her up close into an embrace. He buried his face in the side of her neck and took a deep breath, memorizing her scent. "And then you will be mine forever."

Erza's hand trailed down from the blue haired man's neck and smoothed across his cheek. "You will be true to your word?" She asked through cloudy eyes, tears beginning to well up as he whispered to her.

"It's a promise truer than the sunset, my dear Titania." He vowed, and softly kissed the shell of her ear.

Erza smiled softly, as she felt her tears fall down her cheeks. They caught the light of the setting sun and shined with an orange glow, as did the grass of the surrounding hills. Her dress reflected little dots of bright color all around them, and brought about the illusion of fireflies in the evening.

"Kiss me one more time, Jellal." She murmured softly into his shoulder. "I want this to be a sunset I never forget."

"Gladly." Jellal exhaled softly, and slowly pushed the shining young woman back into the grass before leaning over her and enveloping her mouth in a kiss once more.

She would never, _ever_ forget this sunset.

**End**


	13. Sunday Dessert (NaLu)

**Series:** Fairy Tail

**Pairing:** Natsu Dragneel/Lucy Heartfilia

**Title: **Sunday Dessert

**Prompt:** Eating Ice Cream

**Rating: **Barely T for Teen

**Word Count: **694

The sun shined on to the parasol propped up over a small mahogany table, outside the friendly little café where Natsu and Lucy had found themselves today. The young dragon slayer watched as the blonde across from him politely phrased their order to the waiter who had come to serve them. Her smile was vivid and her cheeks rosy. Her breasts were pretty rosy too, he noted, and the low cut, orange tank top she wore today did a great job of showing them off.

Lucy turned back in Natsu's direction and he quickly brought his eyes to hers, in hopes that she wouldn't realize where they had been focused before hand.

"Thanks so much for treating me today, Natsu." The stellar spitit made sang, reaching across the table and running her fingers over Natsu's fist.

The salmon haired man smiled gleefully, and intertwined his fingers with hers. Ah yes, life had been much sweeter since they had finally started dating.

"No prob, Lucy." He replied, "I owe you one for saving my ass on the last mission." He gave out a roaring laugh, "Who would have thought we'd end up fighting on the train?"

Lucy gave out a weak laugh along with his. Fighting was the last thing Natsu did. Though she did have him to thank for her win too; if their opponent hadn't slipped in Natsu's puke, she might not have found the opening she needed to prevail.

"It was nothing." The young lady responded modestly, running her free hand through her golden locks.

"It was not nothing." Natsu replied with a whine, "You're amazing, Lucy." He squeezed her hand tighter within her grasp.

Lucy's cheeks burned pink from Natsu's compliment, and she looked out the corner of her eye for a moment, before bringing her vision back to him and opening her mouth to speak.

"Two Neapolitan sundaes for the lovely Fairy Tail couple." Their waiter interrupted. Surprised by the sudden intrusion, the two mages released each other's hands and brought them to their laps.

The waiter set down two tall sundae cups, each with three scoops of the sweet dessert in them: one vanilla, one chocolate, one strawberry. On top of each was a swirl of whipped cream, topped off with a maraschino cherry. The waiter gave them a soft bow, and then turned away to take care of his other guests.

"This looks delicious, Lucy!" Natsu cheered, and snatched up his spoon.

The blonde gave him a smile and a giggle, and then lifted her own spoon up. "Yes, let's dig in."

Natsu had only taken a couple bites of his ice cream, when he found himself staring across at his date again.

Lucy was carefully taking little spoonfuls of each flavor of ice cream into her spoon, so each bite was a mix of all three. She would even scoop up a bit of whipped cream on top, and every time the spoon entered her mouth, she had a tiny sundae upon the eating utensil. She ate slowly and daintily—unlike himself, who had managed to eat half of his sundae in the three spoonfuls he had taken part in—and after ever bite her lips would curl up into a smile.

She was so beautiful.

In his concentration upon the young blonde, he didn't see her reaching over to his sundae until she had placed something upon it. Natsu's eyes finally snapped off of her to see that he now had two cherries on top of his sundae.

"I prefer strawberries." The celestial mage said, as her hand retreated back to her own dessert. "So you can pop my cherry into your mouth too."

Natsu stared upon the tiny fruit and blushed as he listened to her words. He stared across at the female mage as she realized what exactly she had just said, and her own cheeks burned red.

"Natsu, don't look at me like that." She murmured as she watched a devilish grin crawl across the dragon slayer's face. "You knew what I meant."

Natsu kept smirked at the young lady, and picked up the cherry. "Do _you_ though?"

**END**


	14. Secret Potion (Jerza)

**Series:** Fairy Tail

**Pairing:** Jellal Fernandez/Erza Scarlet

**Title: **Secret Potion

**Prompt: **Genderswapped

**Rating: **T for Teen

**Word Count:** 2492

**AN: **I'm personally not super fond of genderswapping, so I don't know how this is gonna go down yet. I'm just gonna let my fingers go wild.

* * *

Erza sat on the edge of her bed, leaning against Jellal, her fingers entwined with his and her head on his shoulder. On days like this, when commotion over him and his past crimes had quieted down enough for him to make a secret visit, the requip mage was happy just to be near him. She felt his nose move through her hair as he placed a soft kiss atop her head, and Erza's lips curled into a blissful smile.

"Jellal…" She murmured his name. She heard him exhale her own softly, before shifting his weight and pushing the young lady down, back first, onto her bed. Jellal leaned over top of his beloved and stared into her eyes, before leaning in for a kiss.

But their intimate moment was suddenly interrupted when there was a loud rapping from Erza's front door.

"Erza! Erza are you home? Open up!" Lucy's voice rang through the apartment along with the knocking.

Erza's expression suddenly turned hysteric, and before Jellal could protest, she flipped him over and threw a blanket over the befuddled young man.

"Shh!" She quieted him, and then called towards the door. "It's open Lucy!"

Erza heard her door open, and then close behind the blonde who walked through its frame. "Where are you, Erza? This is important."

"I'm in my bedroom." She responded in a voice that did not at all represent her state of panic. "I was making my bed."

Lucy's footsteps neared the redhead and Erza realized telling her where she sat was not the best idea, however she didn't trust Jellal not to flee the scene if she did not stay right next to him.

"It's kind of a weird time of day to be setting your bed." Lucy observed, and finally took a step into Erza's bedroom doorway. She flinched at the sight of Erza sitting upon a pile of blankets, which were messily wrapped over top of Jellal, and pretending nothing was off.

"Erza… Do you have a visitor?" Lucy asked, completely unconvinced.

Though Erza kept her deadpan expression, she could feel herself grow pale. "Why would you ask that, Lucy? Now please, tell me what the problem is."

Lucy raised an eyebrow, and continued to glare at her friend, but decided to put the conversation to rest. She knew men weren't allowed in Fairy Hills, so it was for Erza's best interest that her 'secret visitor' _remained_ a secret.

The stellar spirit mage sighed and reached into her pocket. "Okay look, I bought this spell, but I can't figure out how to use it." She held out a small bag, which appeared to be full of spices, and a tiny piece of paper. "I don't know how I let the clerk talk me into buying it, but he said it could cloak anyone's identity for 3 hours. And you know, sometimes it's hard to walk around with Natsu and Gray without their 'crazed fans' popping up everywhere around them, so I thought it could help us have a fun day out without that." She held the piece of paper up to Erza, "The problem is, I can't read the instructions."

"Have you asked Levy to translate them?" Erza asked. It seemed like the most obvious solution.

"I did but…" Lucy pouted, "Levy look one look at it and just told me 'Just don't use it. It's not worth the trouble.'" She held her bangs back and used a higher pitched voice as she imitated her friend. "So you know, I thought maybe, since you've been a mage for so long, you might have an idea of how to go about using it."

Erza snatched the bag and instructions from Lucy. "You should listen to Levy." She instructed Lucy.

"What? Hey!" The blonde protested and puffed up her cheeks.

"I will take it off your hands so that you don't keep asking around. I'll pay you back after our next mission together." Erza kept a straight face, but could feel Jellal weakening beneath her seat.

"Dang it." Lucy grumbled, "Fine, whatever." The blonde turned around and headed for the front door, rather disappointed by the turn out. As she stepped out of Erza's apartment, she called back. "I'll lock the door behind me. Have fun with your _boyfriend_."

Erza felt her face turn red as the door closed behind the young lady. She leapt up to protest, but Lucy was long gone. From behind her, she heard Jellal take a great gasp of air, and she turned around to find him sitting up in her bed, his head still covered in blankets.

"I thought I might suffocate…" He said with a sigh.

"This is it!" Erza said triumphantly, and hung the bag of spiced in front of Jellal's face.

Jellal returned her enlivened expression with a confused visage of his own. "Didn't you just tell your friend not to use that?"

"Yes, but Lucy would use it for something wasteful." She told him and stood up straight, "She can be a bit of a material girl sometimes. I will use it for something useful."

"And what is that?" The blue haired man questioned with a knowing smile. He had a pretty good idea where this was headed.

"A date!" Erza shouted, and clenched her fist excitedly. With that said, she rushed off to the kitchen. Jellal just sighed and smiled, before bringing himself to his feet and following her.

* * *

Erza had in fact had seen such a spell before, and was well aware of how to use it. Though honestly, using the term spell was rather a new-fangled term that shop clerks used to drag in younger customers. It was more like a magical potion.

The kettle whistled on Erza's stove, and she pivoted to her right and turned the heat off. Afterwards, she rotated back around to Jellal, who was sitting at her little kitchen table, with a teacup in front of him. Across the table was another cup, sitting in front of the chair that Erza would take as her own.

The young lady bent down and poured the boiling water into both cups. Jellal's eyes did not move from her once. He dreamed of the day where this could be an everyday occurrence, though he feared such a day may never come.

Jellal watched as his host opened the bag of herbs and poured some into a tea strainer spoon, then mixed both cups with it, one after the other. Once the drinks had gained the right color and scent, she dumped the remaining wet herbs out and took the seat across from the man awaiting her company.

"Why are you using the potion too?" Jellal asked, as he lifted his cup.

"I can't let gossip of Titania on a date with another get around." She responded, and her cheeks reddened. "Some have already noticed the way I look at you."

Jellal smiled, and blew upon his drink. "Fair enough." And with that, the two of them raised their drinks to their lips and took their first sip.

Jellal also instantly spit it out, but held himself together and swallowed the tea. Its taste was absolutely horrible. A mix of salty seawater and spicy peppers hit his taste buds. He didn't know if he could handle another sip. He looked over to Erza to see her coughing after her one sip.

"Potions normally are not very sweet but…" The young lady put her hand over her mouth, "I don't know if I can hold this down."

Then, Erza felt her body grow hot, she felt like steam was rising off of her skin. She stared at Jellal, feeling afraid, and saw his skin also turning red with heat. She suddenly worried about why Levy had instructed Lucy to not use the potion. She clenched her eyes shut and felt like she should cry. The heat became searing pain, and she couldn't speak a single word, but she felt Jellal clench her hand in his.

After a moment, the pain disappeared completely, and for a second, Erza could not feel anything, except for Jellal's fingers wrapped around hers. However, her senses began to return and she opened her eyes upon a stranger.

Across the table was no longer a young man, but a young woman, with long blue hair, and bangs that covered her eyes. Her stature was small, but muscular, and her fingers gripped Erza's.

"J-Jellal?" The red head stuttered.

The young lady across the table turned her head up towards Erza, and the hair fell from her face, revealing Jellal's facial tattoo. Erza couldn't believe this.

"Er-Erza?" The young lady's voice came out strong than she imagined—almost as if it were just Jellal imitating a woman.

Erza looked down upon herself to find her enormous breasts absolutely gone. Her eyes turned wide as she pulled her hand from Jell-girl's grasp and ran both hands through her hair, to find it short, ending even before the nape her neck. She ran her hands down her chest in disbelief, and then, hesitantly, felt between her legs. _His_ legs.

"What is this?!" Erzman screamed and leapt to his feet. His voice was deep and rough, but still had a ring that rooted it back to Erza's natural voice.

Jellal sighed, "Maybe you should have listened to your friend."

"I cannot go outside like this!" Erza panicked. "I don't understand what's going on between my legs."

"Well, there's nothing going on between mine." Jellal replied with another sigh.

"What have I done to us…?" Erza grew pale as she sank into a depressed astonishment.

"You've switched our sexes." Jellal stated the obvious.

* * *

Erza and Jellal sat on the edge of the young lady's—er…man's—bed again. Only moments had passed since the potion had taken effect, but Erza could not stay where they were. Erza's bedroom was the only room with curtains on the windows, and he could not risk someone seeing them like this.

This time, the couple sat almost a whole foot apart. The swapping of genders had caused everything to become awkward. Erza could not cling affectionately to a woman, even if it was the man she loved underneath it. And Jellal couldn't kiss Erza's head now—Erza was taller than Jellal in his female state. Jellal was tiny now. Though she still had her strength, she was dwarfed by Erza's frame, even in Titania's natural form.

"It's only supposed to last for three hours. That's not so long." Erza finally broke the silence with his attempt to improve the mood.  
"Why am I so tiny?" Jellal asked, not seeming to actually be responding to Erza, but also breaking the silence. The red haired man looked upon the petite blue haired woman next to him.

"Why are my breasts so small?" Jellal continued.

Erza's flinched as he held in a great burst of laughter. His mouth curled up into a tough smile, as a chuckle snuck through his teeth.

"Don't laugh. This really distresses me. If this is the opposite of my male form, I should be tall and well endowed." The blue haired woman continued in her griping. "I don't understand what this means."

Erza finally let go and burst into laughter. Jellal just grimaced and remained quiet until Erza was able to contain his amusement. The red haired mage sniffled and wiped tears from his eyes, and then turned to Jellal. "Jellal, you're so cute."

Jellal blushed and pouted, "I am not looking to be _cute_."

Erza scooted towards her on the bed and leaned his forehead onto Jellal's. "Well, if it parallel's your natural handsome appearance, I think you're plenty cute."

Jellal's cheeks turned pink, and she couldn't muster any arguments as Erza placed a soft kiss on her lips, before pushing her onto the bed.

Erza lay behind Jellal, holding her around the waist. He sighed happily, cuddling her head under his chin.

"This feels very weird." Jellal said, still miffed by the situation.

"I know." Erza responded, "It's not as if I'm looking to grope another woman, but…" He ran his hand down over Jellal's stomach and felt her stiffen against his chest. "It does feel nice to be in control…"

Jellal let out a girly moan as Erza licked the shell of her ear. "Maybe we should make the best of it…"

"Erza… don't I—"

A sudden chill that took over both their bodies cut off Jellal's protests. Erza clenched his eyes shut and his hands tightened around Jellal's waist, and he felt her expand in his grasp. The chill was much shorter than the searing heat they had felt only minutes before.

When Erza's eyes opened, she found herself looking upon the back of Jellal, in his most natural appearance. She looked down to find her breasts once again blossoming from her chest.

"Erza are we…?" Jellal started, before he felt the young woman press her chest tightly against his back, her fingers still on his taut chest.

"What do you think, handsome?" She responded, and let her fingers continue to travel downwards. "Now… where were we…?" She whispered mischievously.

* * *

"Lucy, that spell of yours didn't last three hours at all. It barely lasted ten minutes!" Erza berated her friend at the guild the following day. "You are to take the remaining herbs and get your money back." She put the bag back into the hand of the girl she had commandeered it from.

"You… used it?" Lucy asked, staring rather perplexedly upon her serious faced friend.

"Um… actually Erza." A small voice came from behind. The red head and blonde turned to find Levy speaking up, "Though it's base time is 3 hours, the instructions mentioned that the time could be shorter is there were certain… conditions."

"And what would those be?" Erza asked with her arms crossed.

Levy cleared her voice and placed a pair of red-rimmed reading glasses upon her nose. She pulled out her notebook and read off her translation of the instructions. "Gender swapping potion. Five servings. Last three hours. Mix into boiling water and drink. Beware of temperature changes when taking effect and wearing off. Warning! If the user becomes aroused, the potion may become unstable and revert the user to natural state." Levy removed her glasses and looked up to Erza with accusing eyes.

"Ooooh~" Lucy teased from Erza's side, "So I guess you did have some _fun_ with your _visitor._"

"I have no idea what you're talking again." Erza said with a straight expression but bright red face. "I just remembered I need some extra cash, I am going to find myself a mission." She turned awkwardly on her heel and began to march towards the mission board.

"Oh no! You're not getting away from me so easy! Spill it girl!" Lucy shouted and chased after the requip mage.

Levy gave a chuckle as she watched the pair of friends bicker and shout.

**End**

* * *

**AN: This fic is kinda messy. I hope you didn't absolutely hate it. When I typed "Erzman" I literally had to stop everything because I just bursted out into laughter. Haha. See you tomorrow.**


	15. The Model Couple (ElfEver)

**Update is a little later than usual this afternoon, sorry about that.**

**Series:** Fairy Tail

**Pairing:** Elfman Strauss/Evergreen

**Title:** The Model Couple

**Prompt:** In a different clothing style (Lolita)

**Rating:** E for Everyone

**Word Count: **2151

* * *

"Your boyfriend looks jealous." Freed's voice hit Evergreen's ears and she grimaced.

"Not right now, the camera is on us." The young lady responded.

The pair was currently posing for the newest cover of Sorcerer Magazine. The two donned blue and white, sailor style, school uniforms, though neither of them were still high school aged. However, the photographer's insisted that different fashion styles were the theme of this issue, and "Sailor Fuku" always caught the customers' eyes.

When Evergreen was invited along with Freed to model together, she told Elfman he didn't need to feel obligated to come along. "It will only be a lot of standing around and smiling to the camera. You'll just get bored." She told him. But he had insisted; they had planned a date on the same day as the shoot, and he thought if he came along, they could leave right afterwards and get on with their outing without much delay.

But Evergreen was right. It was a long, boring process of standing outside of the camera's reach, watching Ever pose with Freed, the two of them wearing fake smile and overdone fashion, and they had to stand _so close_.

Elfman knew Freed didn't feel that way about Evergreen, and he knew the rune mage respected their relationship, but still…

"What's with that look?" Evergreen's voice broke his train of thought. The young woman walked up to him, pulling her hair out of the ponytail the make up artists had styled it in.

"You two look like a real couple." Elfman grumbled.

"Well, we're not." Evergreen responded, and slapped his arm with the back of her hand.

Elfman sighed in defeat, he knew he was being immature. "Are you done yet?"

"No. They want to get at least one more style in." She answered him, "If I let them have their way, we wouldn't be done before nightfall."

Elfman frowned, but Evergreen leaned against him softly and said, "Don't pout, you big oaf. We'll get out of here soon. Seriously, when's the last time I've let anyone have their way with me?"

She looked up at her boyfriend as he stared at her with his eyebrows raised and a smirk on his face. Her cheeks turned pink and she punched his side. "You don't count, stupid." The fairy queen stood up straight and turned on her heels. "I'm going to get my make up done for the next shoot."

"Okay." Elfman said with a chuckle, he couldn't help but laugh when Evergreen covered up her embarrassment with a prideful spat. He watched her walk towards a door on the wall of the studio marked "Make Up Room," but right before she reached the door, she turned back around to him.

"Won't you come along this time?" She asked him with a sly voice. Elfman couldn't think of any reason he would need to join Ever while she had her make up and hair done, but when she asked him a question in that tone, it was always actually an order, disguised as a request, so he quickly obeyed and followed her into the room.

* * *

Elfman was quite shocked when he arrived in the make up room. Almost instantly, he had two women forcing him into a seat in front of a mirror, and one began subduing his disheveled hair, while the other rubbed some kind of cream over his face. The whole time, Ever sat in the seat next to him, the same kind of treatment being put upon her, but she was content and not puzzled like he. In fact, whenever he glanced over to her, he was sure he saw a smirk upon the young lady's face.

"Ever, what's happening?" He asked, completely lost on what situation he was in and how he got into it.

"Please don't speak, Mister Elfman." One of the make up artists told him, "You'll smear your make up."

"I'm a man! Men don't wear make up!" Elfman roared.

"Elfman. Quiet." Evergreen's voice said sternly. The woman was looking forward at her reflection as her hair was being tied into an intricate style of braid, which was being sewn around her head like a halo. She didn't give him a glance, but held a steely gaze.

Elfman kept quiet from that moment on, not arguing with whatever the ladies put on his skin to make it shine, or the way they drew eyebrows onto his hairless brows. He tried to hold an astute gaze as his girlfriend did, but he couldn't help but worry about what he had gotten himself into.

When the stylists were done with him, Elfman stared at himself in the mirror. His skin had a certain sheen to it, and the scar on the right of his face was almost hidden with make up. His hair had been straightened and it fell flat against the back of his neck. His bangs hung over his right eye, and the bangs to the left were clipped into the rest of his hair.

He turned his head to Evergreen, to see that her treatment was just about finished also. The stylists were just slipping the last couple of pins into her halo of hair to hold it in place. Her cheeks were stained pink with blush and her eyelashes were thick. She turned her head to Elfman when she was given the okay and she opened her eyes to show she was wearing a pair of bright green contacts and had removed her glasses to do so.

"Ever… you look—" Elfman's words were cut off as he was lifted from his seat by his two stylists, and began to be pushed out the door and down the hallway towards another room. Evergeen walked beside him, with her stylists following and smirked. "We're not done yet." She said with a sneer.

* * *

Elfman scowled, as he stood in shirtless in what appeared to him to be a wide changing room. He was wearing a pair of pants the stylists had given him to wear; they were long, a dark murky green color, made from a silky fabric, and they were wide all the way from his waist to his feet. The ladies had put a pair of shiny black boots on his feet and tucked the ends of the pants lets into the tops of them, so that they fabric billowed out around his calves.

He had him arms spread out as the two ladies dressing him could pull a white blouse over his shoulders. Its sleeves seemed just a puffy as the pants, and he wondered if it was even a man's shirt. He insisted on buttoning it himself, and then, once that was tucked into the lip of his pants, they put a vest that matched his pants in fabric and color over top the blouse, and he buttoned that up the middle with it's gold fasteners. And finally, over top of that, they pulled a sleeveless jacket of the same shade and material onto Elfman. This one did not button shut, but hung open, and it also hung all the way down to his ankles, making him worry he might back up and step on the expensive looking outfit.

The ladies tied a white cravat around his neck and fluffed it up, before giving him a muddy green top hat, since they could not reach the top of his head due to his height. He stared into the full-length mirror to his left and frowned upon his appearance. "What is all this?" He asked, though more to himself than anyone else in the room.

"It's called 'Lolita.'" Evergreen's voice responded, and Elfman watched her as she stepped into his dressing room. She was wearing a dark green dress with a wide skirt, which was puffed out with many a petticoat, the white ruffles of which peaked out from the edges. The dress had gold trim around the ends of the skirt and had two gold buttons on its upper half, one right under her bosom and one directly in the middle of it. She wore a matching, elbow length cape over top of it in the same color with similar gold trim, and underneath had a blouse with the same fluffy sleeves and matching cravat as Elfman's—though her cravat was much more lacy, and had a bow tied atop it also.

"You still haven't figured this out?" She asked him, stepping close and running a hand down his arm, "You look nice, Elf."

Elfman blushed, not used to Evergreen using his nickname in front of strangers, but then he realized that all the stylists had fled the room shortly after Evergreen had made her arrival known.

"Isn't this supposed to be your shoot with Freed? Why am I all dressed up?" He asked, as he stared down upon Ever and admired her beauty.

"Oh, wouldn't you know? Poor little Freed got a bit of a tummy ache." She said innocently, "and they needed a replacement and well, you were _right there_."

Elfman raised an eyebrow to her. "Is that really what happened?" He asked, not quite believing the brunette's story.

Evergreen pouted. "No." She growled and crossed her arms, "They told me 'you don't smile very well Miss Ever.'" She mimicked them in a whiny voice, "And 'pretend the camera is your boyfriend, Miss Ever.' It was irritating, so I told them if they wanted me to smile at my boyfriend that they should be shooting me with him."

Elfman blushed and reached up to run his hand through his hair self-consciously, but Evergreen grabbed his arm. "Don't, you'll mess up your make up. This has to be perfect or we'll be stuck here all day."

The take over mage lowered his hand and nodded understandingly. Then, Evergreen ran her hand down his arm and wrapped her fingers around his. "Now, let's get to the shoot before we hold them up any longer."

* * *

Elfman and Ever stood close to each in front of a large white sheet that hung from the ceiling. Cameras flashed as test shots were fired and the lighting was adjusted.

"It's so good that we had an outfit for Miss Evergreen that matched Mister Elfman's." A photographer said, "Finding an outfit to fit such a large frame wasn't that easy."

"For sure," Another responded, "but look at Miss Evergreen now. We couldn't have gotten that expression out of her even if we paid for it."

Evergreen was standing on her toes, reaching up and carefully pushing Elfman's hair around to the back of his neck. The young man was sweating nervously, but she kept looking up at him with a caring smile, and patting down any lose ends of his outfit.

"Alright Miss, would you wrap your arms around his neck if you could?" One of the photographers requested.

Evergreen obliged, and leaned against Elfman, looking him in the eyes as she wrapped her hands behind her neck. He couldn't help but think that her contacts were doing her confidence wonders. She sometimes completely avoided eye contact with him all together; worried she might slip and petrify him while they were having a moment. But now, she couldn't take her eyes off of him.

Elfman slipped an arm around her back and steadied her stance against him. He could hear the sound and see the lights of the flashing cameras, but all that was within his sight was Evergreens beauty.

Evergreen could see a look in the white haired man's eyes—a familiar look at that. "Don't you dare, Elfman." She growled at him quietly, but it was too late, as Elfman leaned in a kissed her lips softly.

"Yes, that's great." She heard a photographer say, "Hold that for a moment."

Evergreen dug her nails into the back of Elfman's neck to make it clear that she was not happy about this situation, but she felt him smile into the kiss. There was no getting through to this man.

"That's great. These are perfect. We're done here." The lead photographer said. Elfman moved his arm from Evergreen's back, and she lowered herself back down to her feet. She glared up at the man in front of her, but said nothing. Instead, she took his hand in hers and began walking out of the studio.

"We will return your fashion tomorrow." Evergreen told one of the stylist girls, not asking if it was all right, just telling them 'this is happening and you're going to deal with it.' The girls bowed politely to her as they passed.

"E-Ever! I don't want to go out like this? It's so unmanly!" Elfman complained.

"Too bad." The brunette said as they stepped into the outdoors after hours inside the dark studio spacing. "_This_ is your punishment." She smirked back at him, and the continued her trek towards their dinner reservations.

**End**


	16. Every Morning a Dream Come True (Gruvia)

**Series:** Fairy Tail

**Pairing:** Gray Fullbuster/Juvia Lockser

**Title: **Every Morning is a Dream Come True

**Prompt:** Morning Rituals

**Rating:** T for almost Teen

**Word Count:** 1520

**AN: **Just fluffy, everyday life stuff with Gray and Juvia.

The morning sun, paired with the chirping of birds, was more then enough to drag Juvia from her slumber. The young woman slowly opened her eyes and her heart skipped a beat. Gray's sleeping face lay only inches from hers. One would not guess, from how excited the woman became at this sight, but it was quite a regular occurrence for her now. Some five months prior, Gray and Juvia had bought a house together, and settled down to start a family together.

However, every day was a dream-come-true for Juvia, and so she reached her arms out and wrapped them around Gray's neck, and dragged his head into her bosom. She laid a kiss on the top of his head and rubbed her cheek on his head. Juvia could hear the young man grunt into her chest, followed by a light chuckle.

"Good morning, Gray." She cooed, and loosened her grip around him.

Gray moved his head so he could face her. "Good morning to you, Juvia." He moved in and kissed her softly upon the forehead, causing the young lady to blush and smile vividly. "That was some way to go about waking me."

Juvia put a hand on her cheek and gave him a dreamy look. "Juvia just gets so very excited when she sees Gray. Juvia has a hard time controlling herself."

"Well, if I wake up with my face hidden in your breasts again, _Gray_ might have a little trouble controlling himself too." The ice mage teased with a sly smirk, and pushed the young woman down into the mattress.

Juvia looked up to Gray with Rosy cheeks as he returned her stare with hungry eyes. "Juvia understand…" She said timidly, and then raised her eyes brows and grinned at him, "Juvia will wake Gray up the same way on his days off."

Gray felt a chill run up his spine. If he could have his way, he would jump the girl and devour her right then and there, but today was not his "day off" as she had put it. So instead, he leaned in and kissed Juvia's neck; once, twice, and then a light nip. The young woman underneath him gasped and ran a hand through his hair.

"Gray, we cannot…" She sighed, as he began to mark her neck a second time.

"I know." Gray breathed cold air into her skin, sitting up and sliding off the bed and to his feet. "I just need to mark you as mine."

Juvia also sat up, running a hand over the cold dots on her neck as she came to her feet. "I think Gray has already done a fine job of that with this." She said, and kissed the engagement ring on her left hand.

Gray smiled at the young woman as she admired the band around her finger, and then took the hand in his own. "Come on, let's get ready or we'll be in here all day."

"Yes, Gray." Juvia agreed, and let him lead her to the master bathroom.

Once they had entered the porcelain hall, Gray took up a toothbrush, as Juvia took up a comb for her hair. In a comfortable silence, she ran it through her long blue locks until they were rid of tangles. Afterwards, she leaned in towards Gray and began to comb Gray's hair. The young man spat out his toothpaste and laughed as the young woman moved in front of him to part his bangs as she liked them, being far more worried about the appearance his spiky mess, which he called "hair", than he was.

Once she was comfortable with both of their hair-dos, Gray offered her a blue toothbrush with a bit of toothpaste on it, before leaving the bathroom to find his clothes for the day while she brushed her own teeth.

When Juvia's pearly whites shined to her expectations, she left the room and wandered back to the bedroom. When she peaked in, she found Gray in his boxers, pulling a pair of reddish-brown slacks up to his waist. Juvia let out a small squeak of embarrassment, and hid her eyes to prevent herself from ogling him, but she heard the man let out a laugh, and uncovered her blue orbs.

"You should be used to this by now, most the guild is used to seeing me naked." He said, laughing at his own bad habits.

"Juvia knows but…" She stepped into the room and picked the white shirt, which he had chosen, from off the bed and offered it to him. "Gray's naked body means more to Juvia now. It reminds Juvia of… our alone time." She bit her lip and let her eyes wander over his bare chest.

Gray took the shirt from her and pulled it on over his head. "You keep looking at me like that and we're going to have some 'alone time' right now." He told her, as he popped his head out of the top of the fabric.

Juvia blushed and looked away. "Juvia will find a dress for today." She said softly, and trotted over to her closet, which she buried her red face in while trying to choose the right outfit for the day. Once she had calmed herself down, she pulled down a light blue sundress, and another clothes hanger with a pastel pink shawl around it.

She watched Gray wander out of the bedroom before stripping herself of her nightgown, knowing that the man did not have the greatest control around her bare body, and then fished a bra, and matching panties, from the top drawer of the dresser on the far side of the room. Once the water mage had her underwear on comfortably, she slipped her dress on over her head, and clumsily tied it behind her back, before pulling her shawl around her shoulders, and tying it with a pink ribbon.

She stood on her tiptoes and reached onto the shelf above her closet, from where she pulled down a wide-brimmed pink hat, which matched her shawl nicely. She carried the hat out of the room with her and looked to join Gray in the kitchen.

She found her fiancé setting the table with breakfast. There was already and plate with four slices of wheat toast on it, and the sound and smell of sizzling bacon filled the room.

Juvia smiled contently, and then, placing her hat on the far end of the table, she fetched a couple of glasses, which she put to either side of the plate. She went to the refrigerator and pulled out a carton of orange juice. The bluenette poured the liquid into each cup, and then put the box back in the fridge, before sitting down on the booth seat that worked as chairs in their kitchen. Gray stepped to the table and scraped eight slices of bacon onto the plate, before turning off the stove and moving around the table to join Juvia in the seat. He slid in close, until his side touched hers and then kissed her head softly.

"Bon appétit." He said, giving the young lady permission to dig in. Juvia smiled cheerfully and took a slice of toast up in her hands. She took a couple bites out of the bread, before turning it to Gray, who was already munching on crispy bacon. He swallowed what he was already chewing, and then took an enormous bite out of the toast. Juvia gave a giggle before she took the toast back and chewed down what was left of it. The rest of breakfast followed this pattern of Juvia feeding herself and Gray together, until all the food was gone.

Juvia pulled her hat upon her head as the couple gathered at the front door. She helped Gray into a brown leather jacket, before the man reached for the doorknob.

"So you're going out on a mission with Lucy?" He asked her, and ran a hand over her cheek. "Are you sure you two will be alright alone?"

Juvia leaned into his touch. "Yes, it is only a body guarding mission. D rank. Juvia and Lucy will be more than enough." She reassured him. "Juvia will be home tonight."

"Alright." Gray gave in. He didn't want to coddle the young woman, but he couldn't help but worry about her. She was his whole world.

"And Gray is joining Natsu and Gajeel to report on the last missions damages, correct?" Juvia reminded Gray of his duties for the day. He scrunched up his face in reaction to his assignment, but then sighed in defeat.

"Yes. Even is it is all Flame Breath's fault." He grunted.

"Then Juvia will see you tonight?" She asked coyly, and leaned in towards him on her toes.

Gray smiled as he leaned in and kissed her mouth softly. "Yes. Tonight." He promised, breathing against her lips.

Juvia smiled brightly, and then slipped a pair of light pink flats onto her feet as Gray opened the door. "Juvia looks forward to it." Her voice trailed off as they stepped out of the house.

**End**

**I really enjoyed this one and kind of liked where it was going. I might want to continue it as a chapter fic, but due to the challenge, I will leave it as is for now. **


	17. Sleep is for the Sweet (ElfEver)

**Series:** Fairy Tail

**Pairing:** Elfman Strauss/Evergreen

**Title:** Sleep is for the Sweet

**Prompt:** Spooning

**Rating:** E for Everyone

**Word Count: **1014

**AN: **Finally reaching the second half, which are mostly requests waiting to be filled. This one goes out to some sweet anon—hope you enjoy it! Oh god as if I didn't just write the fluffiest thing I had to go give it such an embarrassing title, I always title fics after I finish them,

Evergreen was sitting on the couch reading a novel. Her glasses were pushed far up onto her nose, and her knees were folded underneath her as she held the book close to her face, taking in every word that her eyes passed. The story had really grabbed her—she made a note to borrow books from Levy more often.

Her mind was absolutely absorbed by the narrative, and she barely noticed Elfman scuffle up next to her. She barely gave any notion that she may have noticed him standing beside her, but he spoke anyway.

"Ever, I want to go to bed…" He dully.

Ever glanced up from her book for only a moment, he saw dark rings under his heavy-lidded eyes—he had obviously had a long day. "Okay. Goodnight." Was her only response, and she turned her attention back to the tome in her hands.

Elfman stayed where he was though. The man remained silent and rubbed his feet on the floor timidly. "Ever…" He grumbled.

Evergreen sighed and looked back up at him again. "Seriously, Elfman? You're already half asleep. Can't you just go to bed on your own?" She spoke harshly. "I want to finish this." She tipped her book back to gesture at what she meant by 'this.'

"You can leave the light on, it won't bother me." The white haired man murmured, and then pouted down at the brunette. "It's not the same without you."

Evergreen felt her face grow some shade of crimson as she listened to his fatigued voice. She gave a sigh, shaking off her blush, and folded over the tip of the page she was on, before closing the book. "Fine." She gave in.

Elfman's tired face lit up a little as the woman unfolded her legs and came to her feet. She wrapped her hand around his thumb and led him out of their living room. "Come along." She ordered, "Before you fall asleep while still standing." Evergreen reached and turned off light switches she passed until she reached the bedroom.

The young woman released Elfman's digit as she entered their sleeping quarters. She leaned down towards the bed stand and turned the knob of the desk lamp sitting upon it. It gave out a soft yellow light that illuminated a small section of room next to their bed. Once she was sure the lighting was suffice, Evergreen sat down on the bed and stretched herself out upon the mattress. She propped her head up with one elbow and reopened her book so she could return to the fantasyland it had taken her to.

Evergreen gave little response to the shift of weight upon the mattress as Elfman crawled in on the other side. The tired man gave in to his fatigue, and allowed himself to fall to his side on top of the sheets. The bed bounced under his mass, and Evergreen was lifted for a mere second from the mattress, before landing upon it again, but she continued to not even flinch, quite used to man's size and the recoils it could cause upon their cot.

Evergreen did flinch, however, when Elfman's arm wrapped around her waist from behind and pulled her close. Elfman's knees curled up and bent Ever's along with them and the woman found herself almost sitting in his lap—except vertical. She fit perfectly in his arms, her back pressed against his chest and her head right below his throat. She turned her face up towards him to find him making his crown comfortable within the pillows above.

She lifted her head from the bed a couple inches and nudged his side with his elbow. The dame mumbled some kind of "hey" or "pay attention" that only her other half would be able to understand, and Elfman moved his free arm from under the pillows to where her head had been.

The brunette laid herself back down and kept her neck propped up against his muscular arm, and gave out a sigh as she was finally comfortable again.

She turned her attention back to her novel again and continued her imaginary journey into its tale. She barely caught the sound of Elfman releasing a content sigh of his own, before he wrapped the arm on top of her tighter around her torso and turned his nose into her hair to kiss her head as he dozed off.

Evergreen felt her cheeks flush as she tried to keep her mind within the prose she was reading, but moments like this made her feel blessed. Despite her harsh personality, she had a man so devoted to her that he couldn't find a peaceful sleep without her in his arms. She didn't know what she had done to deserve Elfman, but she silently thanked him for every day he spent with her.

The sound of the man's light snoring began to reach Evergreen's ears and she started to find it hard to keep her own eyes open. The fairy queen gave in and closed her book, pushing it towards the bed stand—though she had a feeling it might just fall off the mattress over night. She reached as far down on the bed as she could without disturbing her partner, and grabbed a sheet halfway down the mattress. With a light yank, she pulled enough fabric up to cover her waist, and then settled back to her former position.

Evergreen draped her left arm over top of Elfman's, and slipped her fingers between his. She leaned back as tight against him as she could and cuddled her head against his throat, causing his snore to erupt a little louder than usual. She snickered a bit, and then glanced up at him with a serene glance. After that, Evergreen closed her eyes, and slipped her glasses off her nose. Blindly, she reached above the pillows and placed her spectacles on the head board, and then dropped her arm above her head into the pillows and allowed sleep take her over, with the help of the humming breath of her beloved.

**End**


	18. Flying on Ice (Gruvia)

**Series:** Fairy Tail

**Pairing:** Gray Fullbuster/Juvia Lockser

**Title:** Flying on Ice

**Prompt:** Doing Something Together (Ice Skating)

**Rating:** T for Teen

**Word Count:** 3894

**AN:** To the anon who requested this for today's prompt, I'm so happy you did! I've been very much looking forward to writing it. I actually cannot ice skate myself (I have no balance…) so I watched and read some starter tutorials in preparation for this. I hope everyone enjoys it!

A groggy Gray Fullbuster sat in Juvia's apartment early in the morning. He found himself in her kitchen, sitting at her dining table, at half past 6. He knew why he was at her address, but he didn't know why it had to be at such an untimely hour. But when he opened his tired eyes to see her girlfriend standing at her stove in a frilly white apron, over top her pale pink nightgown, he decided he didn't mind so much after all.

Juvia peered back at him, and flashed him a smile, before speaking up. "Juvia is very glad Gray came so early, as Juvia wished." She, flipped whatever she had in her frying pan with a black plastic spatula, "But Juvia does wish that Gray had worn some clothes on the way here. Juvia does not like other women ogling her Gray." She turned and scolded him, waving the spatula in his face.

"Wha?" Gray asked, his mind still in a fog. He looked down upon himself to find he was wearing nothing but a gray and white striped pair of boxers. He leapt up from his seat and looked back and forth around his feet.

"There is no point searching. Gray entered Juvia's apartment like that. It surprises Juvia that the matron even allowed Gray in." She informed him, and clicked off the stove.

Gray sat back down with a sigh. "I would have sworn I was fully dressed when I left this morning…" He thought about how his clothes must have been scattered outside in the cold now.

"Juvia supposes we must go shopping today." She said with a giggle.

"I don't suppose that's all you have planned for the day, Juvia?" Gray asked, resting his chin in his hand and smiling at the shining young woman.

"Nope. Juvia has many, many wishes for today." She finally turned around to Gray with a plate in hand. Upon it was a rice omelet, the egg folded over so that the rice was barely visible, and scribbled on top with ketchup, was a crude drawing of Juvia's own face. On the side were a couple of sausages cut to look like octopi. She placed the plate down in front of Gray, before coming around the table and sitting down beside him. Juvia scooted her chair as close to Gray as possible, and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"This looks delicious, Juvia. Thank you." He blessed her, and kissed her forehead, before picking up the fork next to his plate.

"Anything for Gray." She said softly, with flushed cheeks. "Happy One Year Anniversary, Gray."

Juvia was ecstatic about celebrating the first year since the couple began dating. Gray had seen her filling a pink notebook full of ideas only 5 or 6 months into the year. Now that the day had finally come, Gray was not sure if all of her plans would fit into the one day, so it wasn't surprising she had wanted to start so early.

While Gray ate, Juvia left to change into her outfit for the day. She promised she had eaten enough just preparing his breakfast.

Gray was washing his hands in the kitchen sink when the young woman reemerged in her new ensemble. Today, Juvia wore a short black dress, which fell just short of her knees, and was decorated with white lace around the edges. Underneath, she wore a thick pair of black tights, and around her waist was a white belt with a gold buckle. Over the young lady's shoulders was a white shawl with gold trim, and atop her wavy hair was a short, black, fur hat. She pulled a white shoulder bag around her left arm as she stared upon Gray with a smile.

"How does Juvia look?" She asked coyly, her head tilted away from him but her eyes locked on.

"Gorgeous, of course." Gray said, and stepped close. He wrapped his hands around her waist and leaned in towards her.

"That's what Gray always says." Juvia's dreamy eyes did not match her supposedly scornful words, and she leaned toward the man in front of her.

"That's because you're always gorge—" Gray's words were cut off as Juvia quickly wrapped her arms around his neck and yanked his mouth down onto hers. She felt him chuckle into the kiss, before taking over and backing the young woman up against the kitchen wall.

His hands wandered down Juvia's back, one hand pulled her closer, while the other travelled lower and grasped her butt. Juvia gave a gasp as he groped her ass, and he took to nibbling her bottom lip. Gray's kisses began travelling lower, down her cheeks, up her jaw, and over to her earlobe, which he nipped at softly.

"Gray… Juvia has a lot of things she wanted to do today." She reminded him breathlessly.

"God, Juvia. You started this. " He grunted in her ear with a hungry passion.  
"Juvia knows." The water mage said apologetically, and allowed her hand to wander down his chest before slowly pushing the man off of her. He gave no dispute; he always wanted her but he never forced her. Juvia's finger began to trace circles on Gray's chest.

"Juvia will make it up to Gray tonight." She promised, and stared up at him with half-lidded eyes.

Gray felt a rush of blood in his face, and he grinned mercilessly—though from Juvia's teasing stare, she probably enjoyed such a gaze—and then he wrapped his arm around the young lady's waist and ran for the door with her in tow. "Let's get going then!"

Juvia let out a squealing giggle as they embarked without any more hesitation.

Some half hour or so later, Gray and Juvia found themselves at one of Magnolia's many street markets. Gray had managed to find his pants on the way out of Juvia's apartment complex, and now was only being stared at because he was _shirtless_ in the 7 degree Fahrenheit weather. This weather was much different than it was one full year ago. From what he remembered, it was warm. Yes, warm and damp.

It had rained all day, and he stood outside without an umbrella, soaking wet, held Juvia's hands and asked her to forgive him; for ignoring her; for taking her for granted; for dying. And for _ever_ believing she couldn't live without him. It had become clear to him, when Juvia's life was in danger, it was _he_ who couldn't live without _her_. And he asked her to stay with him. _Forever_.

"Gray, how about this one?" Juvia's voice ripped Gray from his memories, and he found her standing in front of him, holding a clothes hanger with a dark blue sweater on it. "It is made of wool. Is Gray allergic to wool?" She asked him, staring curiously into his eyes.

Gray's muddled mind took a moment to process the question, and then he shook his head. "No. It looks great, Juvia."

"Juvia will take it then!" The water mage sang, and spun around to the sales man to pay her due. When she turned back around, she pulled the sweater right on over Gray's head. The young man popped his head out of the top hole and slipped his arm through the sleeves, before comfortably pulling it around his waist.

"This is nice." He said, "Really soft too."

Juvia smiled at him, "Juvia is glad Gray likes it." She then waved a finger in his face, "Try not to lose it before the day is over."

Gray snickered, "I'll try my best."

"Good!" Juvia flashed her pearly-whites at him, "Now let us find Gray some shoes too!"

Gray watched Juvia begin to skip ahead. "Hey, Juvia." He called out, the young woman stopped in her tracks and turned around to him before he decided to continue. "I know I'm the half naked one here, but this is _our_ day, right? Isn't there anything that you want?"

Juvia stared back at him, and her cheeks turned rosy. She clasped her hands behind her back and nodded. "There is but… Gray has to help Juvia with it."

Gray tilted his head curiously at the young woman, "Well, yeah. I'll help all I can, but what is it?"

Juvia winked at him before spinning around and skipping off again. "Gray will find out soon!"

The young man raised an eyebrow, and then shook his head with a laugh. "Alright, then. We'll leave it for now." He sighed, and followed the Juvia down the dirt path.

Gray watched Juvia pass quite a few shoe selling stands. He would have been alright with any old pair of boots. He lost shoes all the time, they were often the second garment to go after his shirt. Speaking of which, he had already twice caught himself trying to pull the sweater off over his head and managed to stop.

But Juvia seemed to be on a mission. She wasn't just looking for _shoes_, that was for sure. So he continued following her without argument, until he saw a twinkle in her eye, and she leapt over to a stand being held down by a middle ages woman with icy white hair and a white trench coat.

"You have them!" Juvia chirped.

Gray couldn't quite see past Juvia's excitable thrashing to see what _they_ were. But he heard the other woman chuckle.

"Yes. If you're looking to buy a pair for yourself, you should try them on first. It's very important that they fit comfortably or you won't have any balance." The older woman explained.

"Juvia understands." The water mage said and clenched her first, before swinging her hand back, and pointing at Gray, behind her. "Gray also needs a pair!" She informed the clerk, and then leaned in, and said in a not-so-quiet whisper, "He also needs a regular pair of shoes. Gray loses his shoes all the time."

Gray couldn't deny her words, but he still felt very confused by the current predicament.

"I see." The white haired woman said with a chuckle, "Well, we have some snow boots too if that will do." Juvia nodded excitedly. The saleswoman gave her a winning smile, "Alright then, come around the stall and try on some skates."

"Skates?" Gray questioned, as Juvia excitedly ran around the stand as instructed. As she did, she revealed what she had been fussing over: a pair of snow white ice skates, with light blue laces. "So that's what this is all about…"

Once behind the stand with Juvia, Gray sat down beside the young woman trying on skate after skate.

"These are too tight." Juvia told the clerk, who was working very patiently with the girl. She nodded and went to fetch the next size up for her.

"So, this is what you need my help with? Ice skating?" Gray asked the giddy young lady.

"Yes!" Juvia said excitedly, but then her face turned to a worried visage. What is someone important had taught Gray to skate? What is it meant something special to him? What if she shouldn't have even _known_ that he knew how? "Juvia means um, only is Gray would like to teach her." She struggled out the words.

"I don't mind." He said, and rubbed her head softly. Her worries disappeared and she leaned into his touch. "I just don't know how you knew I could in the first place."

The water mage leaned in against Gray's side. "Juvia saw Gray, a long time ago." She said, her eyes seemed to cloud over as she drifted into her memories. "On some cold winter morning, when Juvia was new to Fairy Tail, Juvia ventured out early and got lost. It started to snow, and when Juvia thought she might cry, she head Gray laughing. And right there, on a frozen pond, Gray was spinning and gliding across the ice like an angel, on ice skates." Her eyes flashed back to the present and she looked him in the eye, "Actual **ice** skates! Gray made them with his magic!" Juvia explained excitedly.

Gray laughed, "Yes, I know. I remember that. I didn't know you were there, though."

Juvia grinned mischievously. "Juvia has always been very good at following Gray without him knowing."

Gray felt a chill run up his spine. Sometimes he had to remind himself: He was dating his stalker.

"How about this pair then?" The white haired clerk's voice cut into their conversation and Juvia turned her attention to her.

"Ah! These are very cute!" She cheered, and took a pair of gold skates from the woman, "And they match Juvia's outfit!"

The woman smiled at her, and then turned to Gray with a pair of black skates and a pair of brown fur-lined boots. "And these are for you to try on, sir." She told him.

Gray thanked her, and went ahead with trying on the skates. Since Juvia was excited about this, he decided buying a pair of skated instead of making a temporary ones from ice would be a good idea after all.

Gray got his skates on without much trouble, and turned to Juvia to tie her laces correctly. "Are they comfortable?" He asked her.

"Yes! Juvia is ready!" The young woman jumped to her feet, and instantly began to stumble.

"Hey! Don't try to stand in them!" Gray shouted, and grabbed her wrist, pulling her back down into a seated position. He sighed in sync with her, and rubbed her arms softly. "Be careful. If you think skating in them will be hard, don't even try to walk in them." He instructed. "Take them off for now. We'll put them on once we find somewhere to practice."

"Yes, Gray." Juvia obeyed, and untied her skates again.

Gray pulled off his skates and tried on the boots he was brought. They were warm, a bit too warm for his taste, but he knew Juvia didn't want him walking around barefoot, so he decided he could deal with it for her.

Juvia stood up from his side and went to the saleswoman, paying for the three pairs of footwear. She was given a sturdy paper bag, which she walked back with and put both pairs of skates in, before putting her own shoes back on and offering Gray a hand up.

The young man gladly took it, and brought himself to his feet with a yank from Juvia. The both thanked the clerk for her time, and then marched out of the stand with their purchases.

"Do you know where you would like to go to skate?" Gray asked her.

Juvia's lips curled into a smile. "Juvia has… an idea."

"If you wanted to come here, you should have just told me." Gray said, as he marched through frozen blades of browned grass towards an icy lake.

Juvia followed behind him with a sigh. "Juvia just thought that, since she was lost when she found Gray, if Gray and Juvia got lost, they would find this lake again." She spoke what sounded more like a riddle than an explanation to Gray.

He slowed down so she was next to him and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, before pulling her close and kissing the top of her head.

"That doesn't make sense because I know where it is, so I wouldn't be lost." He chuckled.

"Yes… Juvia did not think of that." She admitted.

"Well, whatever." He smiled at her until she smiled back at him. "Here we are."

They stood at the opening of a small lake no more than 30 feet across. Snow from the night before was swept along the sides and corners, and brown cat tail weeds and grass stalks hung over the edges of the body of ice.

"I'm going to make sure it's safe for skating first." He told her, and kneeled down. He placed his palms down on the ice and summoned some ice make magic. Juvia watched as an extra sheet of white ice stretch from his hands and across the lake. Once the work was done, he stood up with a smirk. "There, definitely perfect now."

"Can Juvia put her skates on now?" Juvia asked excitedly.

He snickered in her direction and nodded. "Yeah sure, but don't stand up until I'm here to help you."

Juvia nodded, and then pulled her skates out of the paper bag. She then handed the bag to Gray as so he could equip his own shoes. The young man was suited with his ice skates far before Juvia, but she insisted she get them on without help, so he began to glide around the ice on his new skates, bringing back his memories and techniques.

"Juvia is ready!" She called out for him. Gray slid in her direction, and then skidded to a stop in front of her, spraying some ice flakes to his side as he did.

"Alright, take my hands." He told her, and bent down with his hands out to her.

Juvia gladly took his hands, but as he helped her to her feet, she quickly lost her enthusiasm.

Juvia leaned towards Gray and wobbled about. "Whaaa! Gray! Gray what is happening to Juvia?" She squealed in disorientation.

"It's okay, just try to stand a little straighter. If you keep leaning forward you'll fall." He told her.

Juvia tried to lean back, but her legs began to slide in opposite directions and the woman began to whine again.

"It's okay, it's okay." He promised her, "Try lining your feet up with mine."

Juvia held tight to Gray's fingers, and slowly forced her feet back together, until there were only about a foot and a half apart. She stood up straight and looked at him with a worried countenance.

"You're doing great, Juvia." He promised again, "Now bend your knees. Just a little."

Juvia followed his instructions, and felt herself begin to steady. As her wobbling came to an end, she looked up at him in excitement, and he answered her smile with his own.

"I told you so." He said proudly.

Juvia wanted to jump with joy, but she was sure she would fall right back down on her butt, so she held the urge within her.

"Okay, now, try flicking your heel back and kicking off with your toe." Gray told her.

Juvia tried to follow these instructions a couple times. The first time she just slipped to her knee, though Gray kept a hold on her arms so that she didn't fall and hurt herself. The next time she just managed to spin herself in a circle by accident, which made her queasy; Gray held her still until she was ready for another go.

Finally, the third time she put her weight on her left leg and kicked off with her right, and glided herself right into Gray's chest, pushing the man back onto the ice.

Juvia seemed shocked at first, and then looked up at him ecstatically. "Did Juvia do it?" She asked.

Gray just gleamed and nodded.  
"Juvia did it!" She shouted, and then repeated the action on the opposite foot, pushing Gray back again. She kept up this pattern, as Gray kept track of steering, to make sure she didn't drive them off the lake and into the weeds around it.

Gray admired Juvia's excited features, as she pushed him around the ice, her eyes on her feet as she memorized the needed movements. She looked like a kid in a candy store; the only time he had seen her more excited was the first time he invited her into his house—though that was for different reasons.

Juvia looked up at him and she brought her feet back together, bringing them to a stop. "Juvia wants to try on her own!" The water mage chimed.

Gray inhaled sharply, "Are you sure? It's a lot harder when you don't have someone to lean on." He told her.

"Yes! Juvia is ready!" She clenched her fist, and bent her knees again.

"Alright…" Gray gave in, and let go of her arms. He slowly skated backwards until he was near the edge of the pond. He watched the young woman stand still, in the position he had taught her, and waited to watch her begin to glide across the ice. He began to worry, though, as he saw her begin to shake.

"Juvia? Are you alright?" He asked. He was about to start skating back towards her, when she shifted her weight, kicked off with her right foot and…

landed face first on the ice.

"Juvia!" Gray shrieked, and flew in her direction.

The young woman pushed herself up from the ice and sat on her knees. "Juvia was not ready!" She sobbed, and looked down at the blood dripping from her nose. "Juvia is going to ruin her shawl!"

Gray skidded up next to her and landed on his knees. He quickly undid the clasp on her shawl and pulled it from the young lady's shoulders, since her fashion did seem to be the first thing on her mind.

"Juvia is sorry!" She cried, and held onto him.

"It's okay. Don't be sorry. I'm sorry." He told her, and wiped her nose with his sleeve.

"Gray's new sweater!" She whined.

"It's alright, it'll wash out." He ran his hands through her hair, trying to calm the young woman. She wrapped her arms around him tight and buried her embarrassment in his chest. He continued to pet her hair until she had calmed down completely, and he could hear her sniffling against him.

"I haven't skated in a really long time, Juvia." He told her, thought she still hid her face. "I was really happy when you said you wanted to try. So don't push yourself. We can try again tomorrow if you want."

Juvia peered up from her hiding place to look him in the eye. "Really?"

"Sure. We'll come back every day until it gets warm again." He promised her, "By this time next year, you'll be a genius."

Juvia leaned back and rubbed her eyes, giggling. "Juvia supposes it was silly to think she could master it in one day." She admitted.

"A little." Gray laughed.

"Gray just looked so angelic that day…" Juvia peered into her memories again, "Juvia thought it would be easy, but Gray just made it look that way." She playfully punched his arm.

"Well, I taught myself when I was a kid. I've had a lot of practice." He confessed.  
"Gray taught himself?" Juvia repeated, shocked by this news.

"Yeah, with ice-make skates." He said, "It turns out it's a lot easier when you use real ones." He chuckled.

Juvia giggled along with him and leaned against his chest again. She reached up and wrapped her arms around the nape of his neck, pulling herself up to his face.

"Maybe we should head home." She said, and then bent in and whispered against his lips. "Juvia believes she may have made Gray a promise this morning."

Gray felt his blood boil as a grin smeared across his face and his arms wrapped around her waist.

"Maybe we can take care of it right here." He gave a breathy growl.

"Oh, no Gray…" Juvia scolded him, "_You'll melt the ice_."

**End**


	19. Cats in Suits (HappyCarla)

**Series:** Fairy Tail

**Pairing:** Happy/Carla

**Title:** Cats in Suits

**Prompt:** Formal Wear

**Rating:** E for Everyone

**Word Count:**

**AN:** I seriously had to do at least one Cappy fic for this challenge. They're my sister's favorite pairing in the series, and her favorite male and female characters, respectively (I can't judge, my name is Kitty.) This fic is related to some doodles I posted on my main blog a couple days ago, but they kinda spoil the fic so I'll leave it up to you to find them.

Happy the cat was a very interested one at that.

For one thing, he wasn't actually a cat, but of a race called "exceeds". For a long time, Happy thought he might be the only creature like himself in existence.

But Happy found out the truth, there was an entire world of exceeds! And with a pair of exceeds following him and his human friends back to Earthland, he had friends who were like him.

There was Pantherlily, who was black and who's ears were round. He could grow big, though only for a short time because his magic was different from when he was in Edolas. Pantherlily, or Lily for short, was stronger than happy physically, but Happy was a quick thinker and an even faster flier. He could always beat Lily to the fish dinner.

And then, there was Carla. Carla was a gorgeous white exceed, and sometimes she had a light pink shade to her fur. She kept a feminine bow on her tail and always dressed herself like a human. She was smart and agile and had an amazing premonition ability, though it often seemed to ail her.

Happy admired her greatly. And he would remind her of this constantly. He followed the female cat around the guild, offering her fish and flowers, but she would always turn him down.

"I don't like fish." She would tell him, or "I'm allergic to the pollen."

Happy never gave up though. That's not how Natsu and he were raised to think. They were brothers in mind and spirit, and Happy looked up to him.

So when Natsu said that he would take Lucy out on a Valentine's date, Happy thought he could do that too! A date with Carla!

So the little blue cat washed up in the morning of February 14th, tied his best knapsack around his neck, brushed his fur until he shined, and then jumped into the window and sprouted a pair of wings.

"Wish me luck, Natsu!" He cheered.

Natsu, who was busy trying to also fix himself up, but had a lot more trouble with it since he needed an actual wardrobe, wasn't quite sure what Happy was talking about, but turned to his friend and waved him off as Happy took off out the window.

"What? Oh yeah, sure! Good lucky Buddy!" He called as the exceed flew out of sight.

One the way to the guild, Happy flew down to a candy stand in the market, and bought a pink heart-shaped box, filled with chocolates. He decided he would avoid the fish today, though he was still sure that Carla would like them if she had a taste.

He took off again, and flapped his wings until he was high in the sky. The blue exceed flew over the town, until he could see Fairy Tail below him, and he retracted his wings and began to plummet towards the ground. Happy laughed and screamed the whole way down, and then extended his wings again, when he was only 10 feet from the ground, and with one strong flick of his feathery appendages, he lifted himself away from the ground, and then glided in through the front doors of the guild.

Happy quickly started his search for his female friend as soon as he arrived. He flew about the guild, flapping past kissing couples and duos holding hands.

"Good morning, Happy." A female voice caught his ears, and he flew over towards the bar where it had came from. Mirajane waved at him as he came close.

"Hi Mira! Have you seen Carla?" He asked, jumping right to the point.

"Is that who your gift is for?" Mira asked, pointing at the pink box in Happy's paws.

The flying cat blushed and scratched the back of his head shyly. Mirajane didn't really need to ask though, Happy's feelings for Carla were just as obvious as Juvia's for Gray.

"Aye!" The little cat responded, and then his eyes trailed up from Mira's face to the rafters above the bar. He spotted a long white tail, decorated with a pink bow, dangling over the edge of the wooden supports. "Carla!" He chirped, and shot up and away from the barmaid, who sighed, and silently wished him luck.

"Carla!" The white exceeds fur stood on end when his voice hit her ears. Darn, she thought she had found a good hiding place. She sighed. It wasn't that she didn't _like_ Happy, he was a great friend and teammate, he was just very…persistent—and stubborn to boot. She didn't know how to deal with him. And she knew that, on a day like today, he would be more than ever.

"Yes, Happy. I'm up here." She admitted, and watched the male cat fly up above her, and then lower him self to the rafters until he stood in front of her, before retracting his wings.

"Aye! I saw your tail." He told her with a grin.

_Oh. Yeah._ She glanced down to the appendage that had given her hiding place away. "Can I help you, Happy?" She asked, though she was sure he didn't just come with a question.

"Aye! I mean, no… I don't need help, I just." Happy stumbled through his words with red cheeks, before forcing his paws out and shoving the heart-shaped box in front of her. "This is for you! It's not fish, I promise!"

Carla stared at the box skeptically, but decided it would be rude to turn it down without at least opening it. "Thank you, Happy. You didn't have to." She told him, and took the gift from him.

Happy watched excitedly as Carla pulled the ribbon off of the box, and lifted the top off. She stared into it, and then looked back up at him with a puzzled demeanor. "Chocolate? Happy, don't you know that chocolates are bad for exceeds?" She asked him, and shut the box.

Happy looked back at her quite baffled. "What do you mean? I eat chocolate all the time!" Happy threw his arms into the air. "I love chocolate!"

"Doesn't it make you sick?" The white exceed questioned.

Happy pulled his arms down and crossed them above his chest, as he thought over how to answer that. "Hmmm… well, I do get a lot of stomach aches, so… Aye!"

Carla sighed and rubbed a paw on her temple, before pushing the box back towards Happy. "Thank you, Happy, but you should give these to someone who can enjoy them." She told him.

Happy's heart sank. Carla frowned. He looked absolutely heartbroken. She didn't mean to hurt him.

"Is there anything else I can help you with?" She asked him, trying to sound thoughtful.

Happy's face light up again and he rushed towards Carla, tossing the chocolates over the rafters and grabbing onto her paws. Mira gave out a squeal as the chocolates rained down upon her head, but he paid her little mind.

Carla was shocked by Happy's actions and tried to pull her paws away, but he had a serious grip on them. She looked at him and his large eyes were practically sparkling. "Wh-What is it?" She asked cluelessy.

"A valentines date! Please go with me, Carla!" Happy cried out.

Carla stared back at him, completely taken aback. Then, with a deep breath, the white exceed began to laugh. She chuckled and held back what was almost a snort, and then sighed. "Oh, Happy. Seriously? What would you even do on a date?" She teased him, and finally pulled her paws away from his.

Happy hadn't thought about that. He thought about Natsu's plans for Lucy, and decided he could steal his ideas. "We could go to the movies, and then walk in the park, and then kiss under the stars." His eyes sparkled again, but stopped when Carla smacked his cheek.

"Don't even think about it. Like I would date a naked cat like you anyway." She snapped at Happy, and then sprouted her wings and flew out of the guild with pink cheeks.

"C-Carla! I'm sorry! What did I do?" Happy called, but didn't follow her. Instead, he stood still, with a paw over his reddened cheek, and looked down upon himself. "I guess I am naked…"

A short time later, Happy flew in through Lucy's bedroom window and plopped down on her pillow. The young woman who lived there was long gone on her date, and he was beginning to worry it might be getting to be too late for one of his own.

But Lucy's room was his thinking space. It smelt of his two favorite people, since Natsu often found his way into Lucy's room and spent the night in it—though the dragon slayer was usually forced to the floor. Happy thought about why Carla had rejected him. Was it what he said? She did slap him when he said "kiss." He was just quoting Natsu though, he didn't mean it _had_ to happen.

Then he thought about what she said. "…A naked cat like you!" Those words echoed through his head. It was true that Carla was always fully dressed, and even Pantherlily wore pants, but Happy always assumed that was because Lily needed to have garments when he grew to his sparring size; and Carla just liked human fashion. Happy hadn't much thought about wearing clothes. Sure, he had worn some once and a while, for events and what not, but most days he felt best in his birthday suit. It's not like he had anything to hide.

But if it meant the difference between a date and no date with Carla, Happy decided he could do it! The little cat began to float around Lucy's room looking at her dolls and plushes. Most of them were girly dolls in dresses, and he was sure those would not attract Carla's attention—not the way he wanted to at least. He picked up a bunny doll wearing a dark green tank top and a tiny pair of khaki shorts. "I think these will do." He said to himself, and pulled the miniature garments off of the bunny.

He put on the clothing, and turned to Lucy's full-length mirror, but was less than impressed with himself. He could imagine Carla's opinion of this outfit.

"_Are you serious?" She would put one paw on her hip and glare at him, "Tank tops are definitely__**not**__ date attire."_

Happy sighed, and pulled the clothing back off of himself, and looked around the room again, until he saw it: the perfect wardrobe…

Carla sat in a small pink hammock that hung above Wendy's bed. The little dragon slayer that called the apartment her home was out on her own Valentine's date with the guild's own Romeo Conbolt. The lonely little exceed gave a sigh and thought about her last encounter with her blue friend.

Maybe her reaction to his blabbering was too harsh. Knowing him he was probably just reciting the words of one of his idiot friends, rather than speaking his mind. She felt like she should apologize, but didn't want to go back to the guild.

"Aye! Carla! Open up!" Happy's voice rang through the bedroom, along with the sound of tapping glass. Carla leapt up from her seat and floated down towards the window to see the little exceed hovering outside, with a blanket wrapped around him.

"Happy?" She questioned, and put her paws on the windowsill, before yanking the window up and open. The blue cat flipped his wings and landed on the bed inside the window.

"Happy I…" The white exceed swallower her pride, "I'm sorry about how I acted."

"Aye! But it's okay! I deserved it." Happy said with a smile, he had long forgiven her. "But look! I'm ready for our date!"

Carla ran an eye over him and sighed, "In a blanket? Seriously Happy, I'm sorry about before, but go home." She turned around and opened her wings to return to her hammock.

"No! Now look!" Happy called, and the sound of rustling fabric followed.

Carla turned around and saw Happy again. Dressed in a stuffy black tuxedo with a red tie and, he stared at her with one raised eyebrow and a smirk, straightening his tie with one paw and the other on his hip. "How do you like me now, Carla?"

"PHT!"

Happy looked at the female cat perplexedly, and watched as she put paws over her mouth, holding her breath, as her eyes bulged and her cheeks turned red.

"Are you okay, Carla?" He asked, stepping close.

Carla stepped back and Happy thought he might see a tear in her eye, but before he could open his mouth again, Carla let out a blaring cry.

"BWAHAHAHAHAAAA!" Of laughter.

A short time later, Happy skipped down the street, trying to keep up with Carla, who walked ahead of him. He was back in his usual garb of just a green nap sack, while Carla wore a red blouse, with a white tie and skirt.

"I haven't laughed that hard in years." The female exceed sighed, and wiped some cheerful tears from her eyes, still getting over her laughing fit.

"Are you sure this is okay, Carla?" Happy asked, finally stepping up beside her. He tightened the fabric around his neck as he did.

"Yes, Happy." She came to a stop and grabbed the paw of the cat beside her. He mimicked her halt and looked at her curiously.

Carla gave him a softer smile than her usual. "You're great the way you are, Happy. I'm sorry for saying otherwise."

Happy's cheeks turned pink, and a smile stretched across his face. "I like Carla the way she is too!" He told her.

Carla blushed, and let go of his paw. "But just remember! We're only eating together to make up for me hitting you. This _isn't_ a date."

But Happy wasn't listening to her. His face was lit up with excitement and he kept cheering. "A Date with Carla! A real date with Carla."

The white exceed sighed, and then smiled at the oblivious feline.

"Whatever, as long as Happy is happy."

**End**


	20. Giant with Two Left Feet

**Series:** Fairy Tail

**Pairing:** Elfman Strauss/Evergreen

**Title:** Giant with Two Left Feet

**Prompt:** Dancing

**Rating: ** E for Everyone

**Word Count:**

**AN:** Now that we're officially in the last 10 of the challenge, there's a lot of ElfEver in this third. This one goes out to an anon who thought we could have gone for some more ElfEver interactions after the GMG, and who couldn't agree with that?

The post-Grand Magic Games ball was amazing. The king had been more than grateful to all of the mages who had saved the town—and likely the whole world—and was showing his gratitude through music, dancing, and most impressively: food.

Elfman Strauss had taken little time, after coming through the door, before snatching up a plate of meat, cheese, and sweets. He sat down at a table with his sisters at each side, and began to chow down. The Strauss sisters laughed at how their brother could shove down a whole meal in a few bites, while they nibbled at pie and cake of their own.

The tanned man had quickly cleaned his plate, and stood to fill it again, but his younger sister spoke up.

"Elfman, are you just going to eat?" Lisanna asked, and licked some cherry pie filling from her lips. "Don't you want to dance?"

Elfman flinched at the word.

Mirajane's laughter cut in before he could respond. "Hahaha! Are you serious, Lisanna? Like my baby brother knows how to dance." She teased.

Before she had said anything, Elfman was going to title dancing "unmanly," but now, he found being laughed at to be even more so.

"I can dance!" Elfman argued, "Not knowing how to dance would be unmanly! I'm a man!"

"Can you really, Elfman?" A skeptical voice intruded upon the siblings' conversation.

The white haired family members all turned their heads to find Evergreen standing to the right of their table, her weight shifted to her left side and her arms crossed. She observed them with one hand tilted up, holding a closed folding fan to her lips.

Elfman felt the blood drain from his face. He could have faked some dancing with his adorable sisters; they would have enjoyed dancing with him even if he had proved to be clumsy. But with Evergreen… she always proved to be precise and expected the same of others. With her, he would definitely get caught in a lie.

He tried to think about the excuses he could use, or a subject he could change to, but his pride as a man could be ruined, and his mouth worked faster than his mind. "Of course! I will prove it to you! As a man!"

And with that said, the take over mage took a hold of Evergreen's hand and lead her out onto the dance floor, inwardly cursing himself and his own stubborn pride.

Now, it wasn't that Elfman didn't know how to dance _at all_-the young man had the basics down, he just hadn't mastered it. Due to his size, it was hard to find a dance partner who didn't easily end up under his feet, and Evergreen would be no exception to that.

Elfman swallowed back his nerves however, and stood on the dance floor with the fairy queen. He put one hand to her waist, and held her right hand in his left. Was this right? His mind became jumbled in the heat of the moment and the "basics" he was sure he understood became muddled.

Evergreen looked up at him with a judgmental pout. "That outfit looks ridiculous on you." She told him with a glare. "It's so stuffy, can you even move?"

Elfman huffed a bit. "Hey, I like this. It's manly." He responded.

"Well," Evergreen rolled her eyes, "at least your hair looks nice."

Elfman had forgotten about his hair's new look. While he had picked out his own outfit for the ball (and shopping for a man his size always proved to be tricky), Mirajane had been the one that insisted he have his hair styled. So he allowed Lucy's friend, Cancer, to give him a once over. His hair was slicked back straight, without a bit of its usual wild spikes visible, and tied into a short ponytail at the back of his neck.

"Thank, Ever." He blushed a bit, not used to Evergreen using kind words, even if they were following criticism. He looked down at the young woman in front of him, with her hair up in a tidy bun, a couple strands straying lose and framing her pretty face. Her dress had loose sleeves and a tight corset, which did a great job showing off her…assets.

"You look great too." He told her. "Really great." He grinned.

"Just where are you _looking_?" The young woman sneered. Elfman's eyes jumped back up to her face. He didn't even try to make an excuse, just smiled and blushed.

"Whatever, let's just dance." She told him, her own cheeks turning crimson. She trailed her left hand up to his shoulder, and took a step backwards, which Elfman mimicked before their dance began.

Elfman found it not as hard as he had imagined. He mirrored Evergreens steps, watching when she shifted her weight from one leg to the other, and the way her hips swayed. He tried to listen to where her feet fell, so that his would not tread on top of them, but he would find his eyes wandering down to watch where he stepped over and over again.

"Hey, up here." Evergreen scolded him. His eyes shot up to hers again, and he nervously sweated. "I thought you said you knew how to dance." She raised a smug eyebrow at him.

"I-I do! I just… your feet are really tiny." He mumbled, a bit miffed.

"Excuse you? Yours are huge, I hope you mean." Evergreen turned her nose up to his comments, but kept performing her dance steps.

"If you hate them so much, why dance with me?" Elfman took a wider step than he had been as he became more annoyed. Evergreen gasped and skipped back to avoid his stomping feet, but her landed wrong in her golden heels and found herself falling backwards.

"Ever!" Elfman gasped, and lunged forward, grabbing the young lady by her shoulders and yanking her back up before she hit the floor. He held her by the shoulders still, and her hands were gripped to his biceps as she pulled herself back together.

"Are you alright, Ever?" Elfman asked, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to—" his word were cut off by Evergreens chastising again.

"I'm fine. You're overacting. I could have caught myself. And stop calling me 'Ever' in front of all these people!" She pulled her arms away from him and shook his hands off of her, before crossing her arms under her breasts, "I knew you couldn't dance."

Elfman sighed, but decided it was far past the point where he should just give up. Evergreen was always right.

"But, you did alright for a giant with two left feet." Ever's words caught the man's attention again, and his face lit up. "Maybe I'll give you lessons some time."

"I'd like that." He said. In truth, he would have liked any excuse to spend more time with Ever, especially when they weren't in a situation like this, where she felt the need to protect her pride—surrounded by a crowd.

The brunette raised an eyebrow and smirked at Elfman's joyful visage. "I bet you would." She chuckled.

**End**


	21. To Bake a Pretty Cake (ElfEver)

**Series:** Fairy Tail

**Pairing:** Elfman Strauss/Evergreen

**Title:** It's a Piece of Cake to Bake a Pretty Cake

**Prompt:** Baking

**Rating:** E for Everyone

**Word Count:** 1841

**AN: **Today's fic is an Elfever prompt requested by CheshiresWordIsNonsense (aka Raijin-shuu atm.) Hope everyone enjoys it! (I apologize profusely for the Lazytown reference)

"You know, Ever. When you invited me over to 'bake a cake,' I kind of thought I would just end up licking the spoon." Elfman murmured, as he held a handful of eggs in one hand and a bag of flour in the other.

The young woman in the kitchen with him glared at him past her glasses, holding still the bowl of spices that she was mixing together. "Does that really sound like something I would let happen?"

Elfman frowned. It really didn't, but a man could dream. "I guess not."

"Right, not pass me the eggs." The brunette put her hand out towards the tanned man. Elfman reached over and placed one egg in her smaller palm. She cracked in against the counter, emptied the contents into an empty bowl, and then lifted her hand again to repeat the procedure.

Elfman obeyed her requests silently, but his brow furrowed as he watched her silently beating the eggs together.

While Evergreen heated butter on the stove, she turned her gaze to the take over mage at her side. "What is it? You're awfully quiet."

Elfman scrunched his nose up, he had hoped she wouldn't catch him lost in thought, but she always found a quiet Elfman suspicious. He sighed. "This is for Laxus, right?"

"Of course. His birthday is soon." She said with a smile, and then turned a serious eye to him. "But he is not to know that you're helping with this. He does not like the date of his birth getting around."

Elfman clamped his mouth shut and nodded. He didn't really understand what the big deal was, but he could definitely go without dealing with an angry Laxus.

Ever poured the melted butter over top of her eggs and began to mix them together. "Is that _all_?" She asked.

Elfman opened his mouth, and then shut it once again without saying anything. He thought over his words, it was important to phrase his questions carefully with Evergreen. He didn't want to seem needy, but…

"Do you need the flour yet?" He chose to change the subject.

Evergreen rolled her eyes. "Sure. I'll take it." She held her hand out and waited until she felt the weight of the bag in her mitt before bringing it to the counter in front of her and scooping into it with a measuring cup. "Find me the sugar too." She requested of her partner.

Elfman bowed down and opened up the cupboard to Evergreen's right. He shuffled around in them a bit, before standing back up with a blue paper bag marked "sugar" in Evergreen's handwriting. He held it up to her, but she passed him the measuring cup instead of taking the bag from him.

Elfman grimaced, but took it from her without arguing.  
"Just add two cups to the flour." She told him, as she turned and poured milk into her egg mixture. "And then add the spices and mix them together. And stop pouting; this is the easiest part."

The young man's features turned up, as he saw she had her back to him. She couldn't have seen his expression, so how did he even know? He chuckled softly, and followed her instructions one by one.

The sugar was packed tightly inside the bag, as wasn't as pliable as he imagined, so when he tried to just scoop it out as Ever had done with the flour, he just found himself scraping the surface. His face scrunched up again, as he realized he had no choice but to pour the sugar grains into the cup.

Elfman turned up the bag and watched as it slowly poured into the cup—too slowly. The take over mage glared and then gave the bag a squeeze, only to watch the sugar explode out of the bag and scatter all over the table.

"Elfman!" Evergreen growled, spinning around. She held a fiery stare at the mess he had made, and him trying to sweep the sugar back into the bag with his hand, but managing to get most of it on the floor.

"I'm sorry, I just—"

"Stop." Evergreen took a deep breath, "It's fine. You're doing fine." She knew he had trouble controlling his strength sometimes, being as big a guy as he was. It was his impatience that was the problem. She poured the overloaded cup of sugar into her dry mixture and decided that it was more than enough, and then added the spices to the ingredients as she had earlier instructed Elfman to.

"I'm going to get a broom." She told him, and poured her mix of butter, eggs and milk into the bowl on top of her dry ingredients. "You just mix these together."

Elfman looked up at her from his mess, a little surprised she was allowing him a second chance, and jumped when the young lady gripped onto his right bicep and looked him straight in the eye.

"Mix it _slowly._" She said carefully to him. He nodded in understanding, and then watched her saunter out of the kitchen.

The white haired man lifted a wooden spoon and put it into the mixture. This wasn't so bad. He stirred the ingredients together, but once the moisture had been absorbed and the mixture had darkened, he found it harder and harder to turn the spoon through the dough. The young man gripped onto the wooden utensil tightly, and held the bowl with his other hand, and then gave a fierce stroke.

When Evergreen returned to the kitchen, broom and dustpan in tow, she found Elfman whimpering and yanking splinters from his palm.

She sighed. "Did you break the spoon?"

Elfman looked to her with a guilty frown. "Sorry, Ever."

She rolled her eyes, and walked over to sweep up the discarded sugar from his last mess. "At long as you didn't get any splinters into the cake mix, it's fine." She wasn't going to ask if he'd hurt himself; that would be practically asking for a rant about how 'A man would never be hurt by splinters!'

Elfman watched Evergreen find a new spoon, and continue to stir her ingredients together, until she was pleased, and then glanced to the top of her cupboard. "Would you get that down for me?"

Elfman followed her stare to a bunt pan on top of the shelves, just about at his eye level. He picked it up and handed it to her. Evergreen placed the pan down to her left, and then lifted her cake mix and poured it into the pan, scraping the thick liquid out with a spoon, until it was no longer any help. She held the spoon out towards Elfman, who gave her a puzzled stare.

"It's what you can here for, right?" She raised a teasing eyebrow at him.

Elfman puffed up a cheek, but exhaled and took the spoon from her before putting it in his mouth like a popsicle.

"This is all Mira even has me do when she bakes." He spoke through his teeth, and then crinkled his nose in response to the taste. "This is really sweet, are you sure Laxus is even going to like this?"

The fairy queen glared at him as she pushed the rest of the mix into her pan with a silicone spatula. "And whose fault will it be if it's too sugary?"

"Oh. Yeah. It uh… tastes great." Elfman looked the other direction, trying to forget his earlier mistake.

Evergreen chuckled, and turned to her oven. Elfman bent down and opened it for the young lady so she could push the pan into it. Evergreen did so, and pushed shut the door, and then turned a kitchen timer to 40 minutes and placed it atop the stove. She turned the Elfman and yanked the wooden spoon from his mouth.

"Hey! I wasn't done." He grunted, and sent a pout in Ever's direction.

"I don't trust you not to try to eat the whole spoon. I don't need to lost two in one day." She joked with a sly smile, and then dropped the spoon into her sink. "Now tell me what's really on your mind."

Elfman was rubbing his jaw from the spoon being so abruptly yanked from it, and looked at her with a wondering gaze. "What?" He asked.

"You're still too quiet." The brunette said slowly, and stepped closer to the young man. Elfman saw a look in her eye—_that_ look. The look she gave him when she wanted an answer, and wouldn't take no for an answer. But she wasn't going to use violence or a sharp tongue. No, she had a much more powerful weapon; _her feminine wiles._

The tanned man took a step back, but Evergreen stepped closer still. He stumbled backwards until he bumped into the counter, and Evergreen stepped in between his feet and leaned in closer.

"Won't you tell me what you're thinking, Elf?" She curled her lips into a smile, and her hand wandered up his chest, "I _worry_ about you when you're quiet."

Elfman felt his cheeks grown red and even his ears burnt. "I, it's just… you were—" The young man took a deep breath to gather his thoughts, and stared down at Evergreen who grinned back up at him, enjoying the fit she was pushing him through.

"Are you…" He started, and stopped again, biting his tongue. No, he was phrasing it wrong again. "What if I want a cake on my birthday too?"

Evergreen raised an eyebrow at him, "Well, I basically just showed you how to—"

"No." Elfman finally spoke without stuttering, and gave the woman a serious stare. "I want a cake from Ever too."

The brunette stared at him with widened eyes, and then her cheeks puffed up and her brows knotted together, before she stepped backwards and let out an obnoxious cackle. "Hahahaha! Is that what this is all about? You're jealous of Laxus's cake? That's rich!" She bent over with laughter, holding her stomach as she gasped for air.

"I mean it, Ever." Elfman grunted, "It's not fair that Laxus gets all the special treatment. I love you too."

Evergreen's laughter instantly ceased and she stood up straight, looking at the man in front of her with rosy cheeks.  
"I mean, I do." Elfman scratched the back of his head, "Differently from Laxus, of course. That would be awkward." He shifted his eyes around the room as he observed the incredible silence, "_This_ has become awkward."

Evergreen clamped her mouth shut, and turned around, trying to shake off her embarrassment. "Whatever, yeah. I guess I could make you one too. Whenever your birthday is."

Though she acted tough, Elfman could see even from behind how red her ears were. It brought a grin to the man's face and he chuckled.

"Thanks Ever." The young man took a great step forward and wrapped his arms around an unexpecting Evergreen. He ignored her objections and continued beaming. "I'll look forward to it."

**END**


	22. Dodging Punches (ElfEver)

**Wow today's is really late! Sorry guys, Pokemon Bank was finally released in the states and I TOTALLY LOST TRACK OF TIME. It's still wednesday here though, so I made it! Uh, more ElfEver today, but there'll be more Gruvia soon! See you!**

**Series: **Fairy Tail

**Pairing:** Elfman Strauss/Evergeen

**Title:** Dodging Punches

**Prompt:** In Battle, side by side

**Rating:** E for Everyone

**Word Count:** 1060

**AN:** Today's prompt goes out to rachelmb13! I don't write much action, so I hope it's worth the read!

"Ever! Watch out!" Elfman's voice roared out from ten feet away. Evergreen took little time to leap backward into the air, just as an inhumanly enormous fist came down to smash where she had been standing.

"Like I need you to tell me!" The fairy queen growled, "And don't call me Ever!"

"We really don't have time for that, Ever!" The take over mage cried out, and ran towards their opponent, summoning his Iron Bull arm.

The opponent in question was thirty feet of muscle—a giant with thick red hair and a scruffy beard. He wore a raggedy pair of pants tied around his waist with a rope.

Elfman took a great leap and smashed his fist into the stomach of his enemy, but the giant tensed his abdominals and Elfman just bounced off and skidded back onto his feet on the ground.

"Dammit! What is man made of?" The white haired man hollered.

"Let me take care of him!" Evergreen shouted, and flew past Elfman; a pair of magic wings sprouted from her back.

"Ever, No! We can't do this alone!" Elfman protested, but it was too late.

Evergreen crossed her arms, and then spread them, letting out an array of arrows made of fairy dust. They rained down towards the giant they faced, who stared upon the assault with wide eyes.

However, the giant was not to be so easily beaten. He raised his arm and let out a great howl, swatting away the arrows like they were nothing, and then aimed another swipe at the stunned Evergreen hovering in front of him.

The back of the giant's hand slammed into the fairy mage and sent her flying towards the ground. She let out a gasp, before hearing Elfman calling her name, and then felt herself land hard in the arms of the muscular man. They slid through the dirt below them before coming to a stop, and Elfman fell back onto his rump.

"Are you okay, Ever?" The young man questioned, worry tainting his voice.

"Of course I am!" Evergreen fussed, and pushed the men back from her. "Like you said, we haven't time for this!" With that said, the young lady shoved Elfman a few feet away, before leaping into the air herself, as another gigantic fist came down and smashed a crater into the ground.  
"What is your problem?!" The fairy queen shouted at their attacker.

"Yeah! As a man, I want to know what we did to deserve this!" Elfman concurred.

The giant gave out a husky chuckle, and finally spoke to his foes. "Nothing personal, but I have to crush a Fairy Tail mage to prove myself worthy of the guild I want to join. So I will show you no mercy!" The giant smashed both fists into the ground, aiming at both fairy tail members at once, but his speed was nothing they couldn't deal with, and both leaped towards each other to dodge.

"Absolutely disgusting!" Evergreen screeched, "I'll turn this man to dust!"

"A guild like that is unmanly!" Elfman growled, as he landed on the ground next to Evergreen.

The white haired man turned his head and his eyes locked with his battle partner. For a split second, they were completely silent.

"I wouldn't usually hope to be thinking the same thing as you, but right now I rather do." Evergreen said, a bit of spite in the tone of her voice.  
Elfman only smirked, and then raced forward with a great battle roar. Evergreen took off into the air, and watched as the giant threw fists at the take over mage below, but missed time and time again. She observed how he tensed his muscles again as he expect another punch from Elfman, but instead the white haired man dodged another punch, and ran between the giant's feet.

"What? Running away, little human?" The behemoth laughed.

"I believe he would say 'a _man_ would never run away.'" Evergreen's voice sang.

In the commotion over Elfman, the giant had completely forgotten about Evergeen. He swung his head up towards where her voice had come, to finding a blinding light screen constructed of fairy dust. The enormous man gave out a hiss, and raised his arm to block the light from his eyes, and just then a giant, hairy, red fist slammed into the back of the giant, and he fell flat on the ground.

Elfman stood in his Beast Soul form behind him, chuckling, and then gave the man a knock on the head for good measure, to man sure he was out cold.

With that done, Elfman shrunk back down to his regular size, and Evergreen came flying down towards him, landing on the ground before her magic wings disappeared.

"Well, I guess you understood my thoughts after all." The brunette said smugly, then gasped as a pair of hands wrapped around her waist and lifter her back into the air.

"That was amazing Ever! I've never connected like that with anyone but my sisters!" He cheered, and threw the young lady in the air before catching her again.

"Wh-What! Put me down! I'm not one of your sisters!" She objected.

"I know that, Ever." Elfman laughed, and threw her higher into the air, before catching her princess style and pecking her on the cheek with his lips.

Evergreen's face grew a brilliant shade of crimson, and she watched, wide eyed, as Elfman's did too.

"I-I just got carried away with the moment!" Elfman stammered, "I'm s—"

"You missed, idiot." Evergreen cut him off, and grabbed him behind the neck, forcing his lips down onto hers.

Elfman gasped into the kiss, before closing his eyes like Ever had hers, and enjoying the moment.

Evergreen pulled away and slipped out of the grasp of the flabbergasted man. She lifted a finger to her lips and puffed out a little snicker, enjoying his astonished face.

"I suppose we should report this giant and have him dragged off to jail." She spoke as if nothing had happened.

"What… What was that, Ever?" Elfman stuttered through his dumbstruck expression.

"Hm?" Evergreen gazed back at with nonchalantly. "I suppose it was punishment. Since you won't stop calling me 'Ever.'"

Elfman watched her saunter away with a confused expression. If that's how it is, he wouldn't stop calling her by her nickname any time soon.


	23. Drops in the Bucker Pt 1 (Gruvia)

**Hello again everyone. Yesterday I got an anon message asking me to write more NaLu for my challenge. Unfortunately, the rest of the prompts have already been decided (by my tumblr followers) and there won't be more NaLu in the last 7 :C I didn't realize until I got the message that this fic was tagged for Gruvia and Nalu. I change the second tag to ElfEver, since they do appear to have the second most fics in this compilation. I'M SORRY FOR THE LACK OF NALU I DO LOVE THEM. I will write some more for them when I am done with the challenge, but for now, enjoy the last week of my challenge.**

**Series:** Fairy Tail

**Pairing:** Gray Fullbuster/Juvia Lockser

**Title:** Drops in the Bucket (Ch 1)

**Prompt: **Arguing

**Rating: **E for Everyone

**Word Count:**

**AN:** Heeeey! This one is actually a 2 shot, and tomorrow's fic will be the second half! I've been dying to write this one. Actually, it's why I wanted to start the challenge in the first place. So enjoy!

Gray was lying on the couch of Juvia's apartment. When he had arrived some two hours ago, and opened the door with the spare key she had given him, he found the young lady absent from her humble abode. He knew it was his fault for not trying to contact her first, but he had gone through such measures to convince the matron to allow him in; it would have been a waste to just leave.

So the young man sat bored on her couch, flipping through girly magazines the tenant owned, and skimming novels she had borrowed from Levy. He had half-considered rummaging through her bedroom for entertainment—Juvia swore up and down that she had nothing to hide form Gray—but he couldn't help feeling she might own a photo album full of half naked photos of him, taken without him knowing—or at least something of that sort—so Gray decided he was better off not knowing what was in her room.

Gray dropped a beauty magazine back onto his chest and sighed, his bored eyes traveling through the room. Was she ever coming home? What if she were out on a mission? Waiting was so painful.

The sound of a key in the doorknob caught Gray's attention, and he swung up into a sitting position just as Juvia stepped into the apartment.

"Wh—Gray!" She exclaimed, and dropped the small blue box she was holding to the ground. "Gray!" She called his name again, and ran over to the man, leaping towards him and knocking him back onto the couch again.

Gray laughed and tousled the young lady's hair as she doted over him. "It's nice to see you too, Juvia."

"Juvia had no idea Gray was here! Has Gray been waiting long?" She asked, leaning away from the man so he could sit back up again.

"Uh…" Gray averted his eyes, not wanting to make the girl feel guilty, "Just a little."

"Juvia is sorry. Juvia will cook Gray dinner to make up for it." She told him, and stood from the couch. She walked over to the open door and pushed it shut, before leaning down and picking up the parcel she had dropped.

"What's that?" Gray questioned.

Juvia turned her gaze from the box, over to Gray, and walked towards him. She opened the container to reveal a pair of blue crystal earrings, shaped like raindrops. "Aren't they pretty?" She asked, and returned to her seat next to him, "Lyon bought them for Juvia."

Gray could feel his eyebrow twitch at the mention of his long-time rival's name. "Why do you still hang out with him now that we're together?" Gray chided.

Juvia gave Gray a surprised expression, but it softened as she wrapped her hand around his. "Lyon is important to Gray. Even if Gray won't admit it; Juvia knows." The bluenette spoke with a smile, and leaned in towards her boyfriend, "And anyone important to Gray, is important to Juvia. So Juvia wants to keep her connections with Lyon."

She gave Gray a winning smile and he was done for—conversation over—he couldn't complete with her.

He sighed, and ran his hand through him hair. "Fair enough. Just be careful around him."

Juvia chuckled, and stood back up. She turned towards her kitchen, but kept her eyes on Gray. "Lyon would never hurt Juvia, because Juvia is important to Gray."

Gray rolled his eyes, but she just chuckled more.

"Now what would Gray like for dinner?"

And that was it. It was an innocent enough conversation, but neither of them knew where it could have lead them a few days later…

Juvia raced ahead of Gray in the market. The sun shone down on the two of them, and Gray had already lost anything he had worn on his top half that morning. He sighed, watching his girlfriend in her dark blue winter's dress, a light blue shawl over her shoulders, as she danced in the streets and flipped back and forth between shopping stalls, pointing at vegetables at some and clothing at others.

And from her ears dangled a pair of crystal rain drop earrings. His brow furrowed. She'd been wearing them every day since she received them. Didn't she own any other earrings?

"Gray! Buy Juvia these eggs! She needs them to make cake." The water mage called out for him.

"Yeah, yeah." Gray snickered, letting the jewelry thing go for now, and quickened his pace so he could join his girlfriend. She pointed out eggs and butter and sugar to him, and as he paid the merchant for the items the bluenette had requested, she twirled around and went running off to another stall.

They had both decided that Gray was better off handling the money when they were together, because Juvia could be a little impulsive sometimes, and would splurge on a dress or hat, before actually buying the groceries she was looking for.

Juvia's high pitched gasp caught Gray's attention, and turned his head to her direction to see her fussing over a jewelry stand a few feet away. The young man sighed, and walked towards her.

"What is it? We've got a little money left, maybe we can—"

His eyes fell upon the object that had gotten Juvia so excited: a long silver necklace with a blue crystal raindrop hanging from it. He grimaced.

"It matches Juvia's earrings perfectly!" She sang out, and turned a pair of sparkling blue eyes to Gray. "Gray, can we buy it?"

"No." Gray said flatly, and turned his back on the girl

Juvia's expression fell into a frown. "Whaaat? Why Gray? Gray said we had money, why can't Juvia have it?" She complained, and threw her arms around his neck from behind.

Gray let out an 'oof' as Juvia's weight fell upon him, but he kept up his protest. "Because it's a waste of money. Let's go home."

"Hmph!" Juvia snorted, and let go of Gray, falling back to her feet. She stood still with her fists clenched at her side, not satisfied with Gray's response. "Juvia wants it! Doesn't Gray care about Juvia?"

Gray turned around to her with a pout. "Juvia, don't be like that. You don't need—"

"Lyon would buy it for Juvia!" The young lady cut off the ice mage.

Silence fell between the two of them. Gray's stare upon her grew cold as his eyebrows turned down and he scowled at her words.

Juvia raised her hands to her lips, guilt rushing up her spine. "Juvia did not mean—"

"Why don't you just date him then?" Gray snapped at her. Juvia gasped. "If he'll buy you everything you need, why spend all your time with me? You're wasting both of our time."

Juvia felt tears gathering in her eyes. "Gray… Juvia only wants—"

"Only wants everything in the world." Gray turned his back on her again.

"No! That is not want Juvia was going to say!" The water mage bellowed, and ran towards the man, grabbing onto his arm.

Gray brushed her off with little concern. "Whatever. I'm out of here."

Juvia collapsed on the ground. Gray had rejected her before, but this was different. This wasn't Gray telling her no, it was Gray handing her everything she'd ever wished for, and then ripping it out of her hands again.

She listened to his footsteps until he walked out of earshot, and then she began to sob into the dirt road, her tears being absorbed by the earth. She shivered as she whimpered and wailed quietly, not knowing what she should do—or should have done.

"Juvia? Is that you?" She heard a familiar voice asked. Juvia turned her hear up to see Lucy standing over her. The blonde's face became shocked as she saw the tears rolling down Juvia's cheeks. "What's wrong? What happened? Are you alone?" She asked, searching the area for Gray, before kneeling down and rubbing a hand on her comrade's back.

"Lucyyyy…" Juvia sniveled, and threw her arms around the celestial mage's neck. "It's all Juvia's fault… Gray hates Juvia."

"What? That's ridiculous." Lucy let out an unsure laughed, and rubbed the bluenette's head. But she felt the young woman's arms tighten around her as she wept onto her shoulder. "Juvia…? What happened?"

**To Be Continued…**


	24. Drops in the Bucket Part 2 (Gruvia)

**Series:** Fairy Tail

**Pairing:** Gray Fullbuster/Juvia Lockser

**Title:** Drops in the Bucket (Pt 2)

**Prompt:** Making up After a Fight

**Rating:** E for Everyone

**Word Count:** 2716

**AN:** ONE WEEEK LEFT STARING TODAY! This fic is the second half of day 23.

* * *

An entire week had passed since the fight. After being discovered in the streets by Lucy, Juvia was walked home by the blonde, and had not left her apartment since.

The seven days had passed slowly, and she had spent a lot of time thinking about her words, and even more about Gray's. Were those his true feelings? That she was wasting their time? Was their love so fragile?

She had contemplated going to the guild, but she worried she would run into the ice mage, and his cold stare could break her heart further. She couldn't handle it. She wanted to hide for the rest of her life, than face Gray's rejection head-on.

There had been quite a few visitors in the week she spent locked in her apartment. First, Lucy had come by the following morning to try to talk about what had happened, since Juvia was too emotional to form sentences the day before.

But Juvia had just stood behind the closed door and told Lucy, "It is nothing. Juvia was rejected again. It happens all the time. Juvia will be fine."

But she was anything but fine. The young lady rarely travelled to the kitchen. The most she had consumed were some old valentine's chocolates and a seemingly unending amount of water.

She had to keep drinking water, because whenever the silence set in, and she realized she was alone, her tears would return until she ran dry.

Her next visit was from Lyon Vastia. Juvia heard him knocking at the door, pleading to be let in, begging for her to at least speak to him. But she wouldn't even open her mouth, she wouldn't move from her couch. She stayed silent, staring at the floor, until the man sighed, and left down the stairs again.

It was not Lyon's fault; Juvia knew that. It was Juvia's fault for using his kindness against Gray; it was Juvia's fault for giving Gray a reason not to trust her; and it was Gray's fault for being jealous; it was Juvia's fault for causing said jealousy. But even so, she couldn't talk to the white haired man. When she heard his voice, she remembered Gray's words.

"_Why don't you just date him then?" _

"_You're wasting both of our time."_

Those words broke Juvia all over again.

Her third visitor was a sharp tongue Gajeel, slamming on his best friend's door, demanding to be let in, swearing to destroy the 'damned stripper.'

Juvia cried through the door, begging him not to interfere, to not touch Gray.

"If anyone should be hurt, it is Juvia. Gray did nothing wrong."

"Hell to that!" Gajeel had hissed, "If he did 'nothing', why are you bawling your eyes out? I can smell your tears from here, Juvia. I know your crying."

"Juvia is made of water, she cries all the time." She lied, she knew he would see through it, but she could only make up excuses.

"I'll drag him here." The steel dragon had sworn, "I'll drag the sicko up the stairs and make him talk to—"

"NO!" Juvia had screeched through the door, her weight fell upon it as she slammed her arms against the door, and subsequently shut the man on the other side up. "Juvia cannot see Gray. Gray would only hate her more. It's better this way."

"The hell it is." Gajeel had groaned under his breath; "He's been at the guild every day. Just sitting around doing nothing. I want to squeeze his little head until it explodes."

"Then Juvia cannot come to the guild for a while." The water made had whimpered from inside her apartment, "Send Juvia's regards to her comrades."

And with that said, Juvia fell silent again, and replied to nothing her friend shouted, until he gave in a left her in her misery.

The rest of the week had been silent. So quiet and lonely—Juvia hated it—yet she wanted nothing else.

However, she kept running over the words Gajeel had told her. _"He's been at the guild every day."_

Why was Gray going to the guild every day? Was he ignoring her and living his life as usual? But if that were true, why wasn't he taking missions? Why go to the guild and do nothing?

Could he be waiting for her?

No. That was ridiculous. Juvia had been terrible to him. Gray hated her. There had to be another reason.

On the night of her sixth lonely day, Juvia folded her hands together, held them tight in front of her face, and took a deep breath, and prayed.

"Gray. Gray if you are waiting for Juvia, please stop waiting. Please come and save Juvia from her solitude."

* * *

Seven Days.

It was the seventh day since Gray had fought with Juvia, spoken to her like she was nothing, and left her crying in the streets.

He didn't even want to be alive.

Living with that memory was worse that death. How could he have been so cold to her?

Yet, she left him in a cold state. Gray travelled over to Fairy Tail every morning since their argument, and he sat at the table closest to the door, and he waited.

Every day the same events took place. Lucy would walk in, give a worried glance to Gray, but carry on without saying anything. Natsu would spit something like, "Nice going, loser." to him as he walked past. And Gajeel would glare at him. He would send threatening stares at the ice mage the entire day, his eyes promising to tear him to shreds if he had the chance.

But Juvia never walked in the door.

He spent all his time at that table, sipping water and munching chips when his stomach made a fuss, and didn't leave until the sun had long set, yet he didn't even catch a single glance of the bluenette six days in a row.

And now, in the early afternoon of his seventh day, it seemed it would be no different.

Gray had his head in his arms; at the same table he had spent the rest of his week. One hand was outstretched and fiddling with a cup of water. He watched the liquid splash around in the vessel, and thought about the woman who he had left broken in the streets.

He was stupid to wait for her. There was no reason for her to forgive him. He sighed and wore a broken smile, which he buried in his arms.

He heard a familiar hiss from Gajeel, as the dragon slayer strolled through the doors and kicked Gray's chair. But he gave no response. He would have taken the beating if Gajeel had given him one. He didn't understand why the man never did.

And just as that thought ran through his mind, he felt a pair of hands grab his shoulders and the ice mage was hurled to the floor.

"What? You finally get tired of looking at my tired face?" Gray mocked, but when he turned to his adversary, he didn't see the longhaired, steel dragon he had expected.

"What are you _doing_ here?" Lyon snapped, and kicked Gray in the side.

"Oof! What the hell, Lyon?" Gray roared, and forced himself to his feet.

"Is this all you've done for a week? Sat around moping? You're absolutely disgusting." The white haired man chided.

"What do you care? All of this is your fault. If you hadn't given Juvia those _stupid_ earrings, I never would have—"

"Have what? Gotten jealous? Called her unfaithful? Left her all alone for a week?" Lyon berated him time and time again. "A man like you doesn't deserve a sincere soul like Juvia's."

Gray couldn't even look at Lyon. It felt like he had punched him dead in the heart over and over. He couldn't find a single word to combat with, so instead he gave in. "Well, now that doesn't matter. Juvia won't talk to me again."

"What are you talking about?" Lyon growled, "Juvia won't open the door for anyone. She won't leave her apartment. She won't talk to anyone but you." Lyon gripped a fist so tight that blood trickled down his knuckles. "It always has to be you."

Gray stared at his long time rival with puzzled eyes.

"You know what she said to me when I gave her those earrings, Gray?" The fellow ice mage asked, laughing half heartedly, "She said, 'they look like ice. Like Gray's ice. Gray will love them.' Can you believe that? I bought her a gift. Me, _another_ ice make mage, and all she could talk about was you."

Gray stood in place, just taking in Lyon's words.

The white haired man spoke up once more. "Have you really not noticed, Gray? Seven days straight and the rain hasn't stopped."

A strike of lightning lit up the guild, and Gray's eyes were opened. He had been so deep in his own depression he never noticed; the wet, cold walks to the guild; the muddy floors; even now, Lyon stood drenched in front of him.

Gray didn't say a word. As if his feet were on autopilot, the young man went storming out of the guild doors, racing down the streets towards Fairy Hills. His feet couldn't take him fast enough. In a flash, Gray slapped the ground and froze the wet pavement. He leapt onto the icy ground and slid up and down streets, moving as fast as his magic could take him.

As he reached the gate of Fairy Hills, Gray tripped off of his ice slide and stumbled to the receiver, ringing the doorbell over and over.

"God, who is it?" The matron's voice growled.

"Please, let me in." Gray pleaded.

"Oh, it's you. Thank goodness, I couldn't stand this rain any longer. Take care of your woman before I kick her out myself." The voice on the other end lectured. The receiver fell quiet again, and the gates began to open in front of him.

As soon as there was enough room to squeeze through, Gray did so and began running up stairs. Half way up, he slipped on the wet metal and came down on his knees, banging his head on the handrail on the way. He cursed under his breath, but forced himself back up and kept going.

When Gray reached Juvia's floor, he saw Lucy standing outside of the water mage's apartment door, slamming her fist against it.

"Juvia! Juvia please open up! Everyone's worried about you!" The blonde cried out, then turned her head. "Gray! You're bleeding!"

He thought he might have heard a gasp from the other side of the door. Gray limped closer, brushed the blood away that trickled from his brow, and gestured for Lucy to move aside.

"Juvia…" He spoke up, "I won't ask you to let me in."

"Gray, what do you mean?" Lucy whispered at his side.

"Because I don't have to." He dug his hand into his pants pocket and dragged out a key ring with a single key on it, and turned it into the doorknob. "I'm coming in, Juvia."

"No. Please don't." The young lady begged through the wooden door. Gray's heart stopped. She really didn't want to see him.

"Juvia does not want Gray to see her. Juvia looks horrible."

Gray exhaled in relief. It was only her lack of confidence that held him back. So he recited the line he gave her every time she complained about her looks.

"Impossible." And with that, he turned the doorknob and let himself into the apartment.

Juvia stumbled back from the door and threw a blanket over her head. Gray walked further into the apartment, and then apologized to Lucy, before shutting her outside again.

"Juvia, why are you hiding from me?" He asked softly, and reached for the cloth covering the young lady's face. She gave little resistance, but her eyes remained on the ground as he lifted the veil from her.

Juvia's eyes were red from crying, and dark rings surrounded them. Her hair was matted and damp, and her skin was so pale; far more than usual. Her frame looked thinner, and he worried how long she had gone without eating. She really did look dreadful.

"Juvia…" He gasped, and reached out to cup her cheek, but she backed away from his tough. "Did I… do this to you?"

"It's fine." Juvia gave a broken laugh, "Juvia deserves it after how she treated Gray."

"That's _not_ true!" Gray hollered. Juvia leapt in surprise to his tone. Her eyes finally flicked up to his, but instead of the furious eyes she expected, she found a pair of painfully sorrowful hues staring back at her.

"It was my fault. I got jealous. I said things to you that I never imagined I would allow myself to." He balled his fists at his side and inhaled sharply through his teeth, trying to fight back his tears. "There hasn't been a day this week that I haven't regretted what I said."

"Gray…" Juvia spoke softly, her eyes tearing up, as she reached out for him.

Grays hands snapped up and snatched up Juvia's palm, holding it tight within his. "I'll buy you anything you want. I'll never fight with Lyon over you again. I'll do anything, if you'll just forgive me." He sobbed, cursing himself for setting his tears free as they trickled down his cheeks. "All I've wanted these seven days was to hold you again."

"Oh, Gray." Juvia whimpered his name, and broke from him grasp to step in close and wrap her arms around him. "If Gray had listened to Juvia back then, he would have known that all Juvia wants is Gray. Gray is all Juvia _needs._"

Gray choked back his tears, and hesitated to hold her, afraid to crush her thinned frame, but her body felt so warm against his. He softly placed over hand between her shoulder blades, and the other in the curve of her back. Juvia slid her head under his chin and nuzzled him.

"Please don't cry, Gray." She requested. But the man continued to shed his tears and rubbed his head in her hair. "Juvia won't go out with Lyon any more. Juvia will spend all her time with Gray."

"No, that's not necessary." Gray sniffed back his tears, and moved his face down so he could press his forehead against hers, and stare into her blue eyes. "You can spend your time with whoever you want. Like you said, Lyon is important." He kissed her nose softly and Juvia smiled tenderly. "Just promise you'll stay with me."

"Oh Gray…" Juvia giggled softly, and placed a tiny, warm kiss on his lips. "Doesn't Gray remember that Juvia promised that a long time ago?"

"Yeah, I guess I do." Gray chuckled lightly, and ran his hair through her hair.

"Hey! The rains stopping! Way to go, Gray!" Lucy sang from outside the apartment.

"Yeah well, get lost Lucy!" Gray shouted back at the door. "Juvia and I have some cleaning up to do."

"Well, I never…!" He heard the blonde grouch from outside, before stomping down the stairs.

"Gray, that wasn't very nice." Juvia complained. "Juvia does not need to clean, she has barely moved for the last week."

"Oh, I didn't mean the apartment." Gray said, and smirked down at the young lady. "I think we need to get the shower running for a couple of grumps who haven't bathed for a week."

A streak of crimson ran across Juvia's cheeks. "Oh." She said simply, her mouth making a perfect 'O' as she put together Gray's words. Then she pouted and puffed up her cheeks. "Juvia thought Gray said it was 'impossible' for Juvia to look bad."

"Oh, you look wonderful." Gray snickered "But I didn't say anything about your scent."

"What?! Like Gray is one to talk!" Juvia whined, and lifted a bit of her bangs that were now dyed red "Gray is so filthy, there is blood in Juvia's hair!" She grabbed the man's arm and began dragging him towards her bathroom. Just as she neared the door, she glanced back with a sly smile, "Juvia supposes her shower has room for two…"

**The End**


	25. Scarlet (Jerza)

**Hi guys! I wrote this fic on Wednesday night, so by the time it's published on , it will be disproven by canon, so um… just pretend it an AU? IDK, whatever makes you happy. That said, this does contain SPOILERS of chapter 369, so if you're not caught up, you might want to skip today.**

**Series:** Fairy Tail

**Pairing:** Jellal Fernandes/Erza Scarlet

**Title: **Scarlet

**Prompt:** Gazing into Each Other's Eyes

**Rating:** E for Everyone

**Word Count:** 746

**AN:** The anon that requested this prompt is going to hate me. I'm sorry. Last weeks chapter could not have come at a better (or worse) time. Who would I be not to take this opportunity? Enjoy the sads. Contains spoilers of chapter 369.

Erza sat in the dirt below the Tartarus's "Cube," the earthy block now hovering hundreds of feet above her. Only moments ago, it had begun to shake, and the floor opened up under her, plunging the young lady down towards the ground below. The red head had not fought the fall, all she could do was hold her arms over her bare chest, and brace her legs for the impact. The shock of landing sent pain searing up to her knees, and she collapsed onto the earth, before curling up into a fetal position.

Why had they allowed her to fall? Were they done with her? Did they no longer need information she never had in the first place? Why had the fortress begun shaking?

Jellal!

A cold feeling filled Erza's chest—a dark, endless fear. Had Jellal been…

"NO!" Erza shouted at her own thoughts and curled her naked body tighter. Tears rolled down her cheeks and she gritted her teeth. She had been through so much physical pain in the last few hours; she couldn't imagine such emotional pain on top of it. She wouldn't be able to survive.  
"It can't be." She told herself, trying anything to calm her quickened heartbeat, "Jellal could never be…"

The sound of footsteps echoing across the land caught Erza'a attention, and the young lady rolled up onto her knees and quickly scanned her area. She was completely exhausted, and had no magic reserves left, there was no way she could equip her armor—much less fight.

She inhaled sharply. "I have to run." She told herself, and hoped the adrenaline pulsing through her veins would be enough to save her. With a slight struggle, the red haired mage made it to her feet, and took off into the dessert.

Erza cringed, the pain in her knees was returning. She could still hear the steps of her pursuer, taking great strides and keeping up with her pace. She cursed inwardly, and kept running, hoping whomever—or whatever—it was would run out of energy before she did.

And then, she heard a much louder footstep than the last, as the person behind her leapt off the ground. She saw a shadow grow around her, and raced faster, but heard a body hit the ground inches behind her, before a hand grasped her wrist and wrenched her to a stop.

With all the strength she could muster, Erza let out a cry and threw a punch at her captor, only to see a head of blue hair dodge her fist.

Tintania's heart stopped, her eyes widened, and her stance weakened.

"Jellal?" His name left her lips, and she barely saw him grin from under his bangs. Tears formed in her eyes and she wept his name, "Jellal!" She cried, throwing her arms around his neck. "I thought they had killed you."

She heard him reply to her cries with a weak chuckle, and ran his and down her back before flinching away from her skin.

"Erza, are you… nude?" He asked with a puzzled tone, and shuffled his coat off his back, before draping it over his shoulders.

Erza let out a frail laugh of her own. "What do you mean 'am I?'" She asked, and ran her hand up his cheek, "Can't you see yourse—" The requip mage's words trailed off and her eyes widened, as she lifted up Jellal's bangs. She searched for his gold eyes to peer into, but found them closed tight. His cheeks stained were scarlet, by nothing more than his own blood.

"Jellal…" Erza's voice shook, dried blood chipped off from his skin as her fingers explored his wounded face. "Jellal, your eyes…" Her knees quaked, and Jellal wrapped his arms around her as she collapsed against him, weeping into his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Erza Scarlet." He whispered into her hair, "I named you after your gorgeous red locks, but I made a decision that has rendered me incapable of seeing the color again."

Erza had ran out of words, her despair had reached its peak, and she could do nothing but clench the fabric on Jellal's back, and sob uncontrollably upon the man.

"You have quite obviously been through so much, Erza, and it's seemed I've only added to your agony." He held the woman tight against him. "I apologize."

Erza let out a loud wail of misery as she began to fear this was only the beginning of their upcoming trials.

**End**


	26. Fairy Queen's Wedding (ElfEver)

**Hi everyone! A couple replies before we get to today's fic!**

** NudgeThePyro: There will be a couple more Gruvia fics before the end of the challenge, so please be patient for them. However, I'm afraid you won't be getting any FreedxMira fics from me. I ship Miraxus.**

** Bridgetteo0: I know! I was surprised when I read the new chapter that it didn't derail my fic. Oh goodness every chapter gets me so stressed out. I spend the rest of the day after reading them wondering how I will make it through the week.**

**Today is an ElfEver fic again, but it's my favorite one I've written for them! So sit back and read your eyeballs out!**

* * *

**Series:** Fairy Tail

**Pairing:** Elfman Strauss/Evergreen

**Title:** Fairy Queen's Wedding

**Prompt:** Getting Married

**Rating:** E for Everyone

**Word Count:** 2372

**AN:** I got really really emotional writing this fic. More notes on why after the fic. Enjoy.

* * *

Wendy Marvell, sixteen years old, stood outside the doors of a beautifully ordained church. Her heart was beating faster than she had ever felt it pump during any battle she had been in. Last night, when she had mentioned having always dreamt of being a flower girl, she never could have imagined Evergreen's response.

The bride-to-be had leapt up from her seat, and almost screeched, "How did you forget to mention that before?!"

Wendy had been caught completely off guard, but told her she hadn't so much forgotten, as she just figured she was too old to be one now.

Evergreen had glared at the young lady and asked, "What color is your dress?"

"L-light blue?" Wendy had stuttered, completely confused by what a scene she had caused.

The fairy mage had adjusted her glasses, and taken her seat again. "You'll look fine with the pastel greens. We'll just tell the priest about it in the morning."

Wendy still couldn't believe Evergreen's kindness. She had acted like it was absolutely nothing, but to Wendy…it was a dream she never thought she would be able to live. She clenched the silver basket full of white flower petals in her palms. This was really happening.

Wendy peered behind her at the bridal party who she would shortly be leading into the cathedral.

Directly behind her were Cana and Freed, the maid of honor and best man. Cana appeared very composed (and surprisingly sober), while the green haired man beside her was shaking with teary eyes, whimpering about 'his Ever' being 'all grown up.'

Next in line were Mirajane and Bickslow. The eldest Strauss sibling smiling quaintly, ignoring her partner groomsman, who was whispering teasing words about the groom who waited inside.

Behind them were Lisanna and Macao. The youngest bridesmaid seemed very nervous, and was pinching the older man's sleeve in her fingers. Macao was smiling smugly; since he had been present for many a Fairy Tail wedding.

The final pair of bridesmaid and groomsman was Juvia and Gray. The young bluenette had a dreamy look on her face, and was already whispering about catching the bouquet, while the ice mage who partnered her kept his cool exterior and reminded her that it wasn't _her_ big day.

All the bridesmaids were dressed matching gowns, light green in color, with white collars, which the fabric draped down from. The dresses all tied in the back with white bows, and each woman wore white pantyhose and green barrettes in their hair, all of which were styled in ballet buns—except Lisanna's who wore the barette in her bangs since her hair was too short.

The groomsmen were dressed in white tuxedos, with light green accent on pockets and the tips of their sleeves. Under their coats they wore mid-tone green vests, with bright white buttons.

Though Evergreen had told her that she'd fit in fine, Wendy still felt like the odd girl out. With her pastel blue, halter-top dress, and dark blue hair in pigtails, she stood out like a sore thumb from the rest of the ladies. She worried she would catch too much attention alone, and she would hate to take the spotlight away from the bride.

"I'm sorry I'm so late!" A young male voice called out. Wendy spun her head around to look behind the groomsmen and saw Romeo running up in a pastel blue tuxedo, with a ruffled white dress shirt underneath.

"That's my son!" Macao laughed, "Fashionably late as always!"

"I am not always late!" Romeo argued, embarrassed by his father's unconcerned position on the matter. "It's only because everyone insisted I wore blue after I bought a green suit. It's not easy to find them so last minute."

Macao continued to laugh, and passed Romeo and white pillow, and a tiny box. "Sure, sure. Now you be careful with those."

"Stop laughing! This isn't funny!" Evergreen's voice hissed from the back of the line, "If the ring bearer hadn't come, everything could have been ruined!"

Wendy peaked back at the bride, who was huffing and puffing at the young man who had walked up to join Wendy at the front of the line.

"Shh… It's alright now, Ever." Laxus's voice whispered, as he stepped up next to the bride, and ran his hand through her hair. Evergreen's expression quickly softened, and she leaned her head against the man's shoulder.

"Are you happy, Ever?" The blond dragon slayer murmured softly.

"I've never been happier." The fairy queen promised, and blushed softly as Laxus placed a soft peck on her forehead.

"Good." He replied, "Because I wouldn't give you away to just any man."

Wendy blushed softly, and brought her attention to the front of the line again. She smiled wistfully as everything began to come together.

"I didn't know you were going to be the flower girl, Wendy." Romeo said, standing next to her and opening the tiny box on his pillow to reveal the rings.

"Neither did I." Wendy giggled at the boy.

Just then, the resounding tones of organ notes echoed from the cathedral, and Wendy's heart nearly leapt into her throat. Her heart began to thump faster again, as she realized her moment was coming. She had not practiced the night before with everyone else, but had only been instructed on how slowly to walk and where she should stand. She was terrified she might make a mistake, and for a moment, she wasn't too sure if she was breathing.

But she felt Romeo softly grasp her hand, and looked up to the boy, who grinned softly and whispered, "This is going to be great, are you ready?"

The sky dragon could feel her nerves blow away with the wind, and she smiled at the young man and nodded, before stepping into the church.

Wendy walked slowly down the aisle, taking a step, dropping some petals, taking another step and dropping more petals. Romeo took every step with her, until they reached the altar, where Elfman stood to the right of a pedestal only half his height. The silver haired man smiled nervously at the young lady, who took a slight bow, before walking to the far left of the stage, while Romeo walked to the opposite end.

She watched Elfman's expression upon the groomsmen and bridesmaids, nods, bows and smiles abound, but she would never forget the look on his face as Ever stepped into the hall.

Elfman's eyes grew wide, and his jaw dropped. Up until then, his stance had not changed—standing straight with his hands folded in front of him, but when his gaze fell upon his bride, he could not help but turn towards her. He lifted his foot for a moment, as if he wanted to jump off the altar and carry the woman off at that very minute, but he caught himself and quickly returned to his former position, although his eyes remained locked upon the brunette making her way up the aisle.

Evergreen donned a pure white mermaid style wedding dress. It was completely strapless, as wrapped snuggly around her breasts. At her waist, the bodice tightened and was decorated with a ivory flower made of satin. Her gown billowed past her feet onto the floor, and a short tail of white dragged behind her. On her arms she wore white silk gloves, which traveled up to her elbows.

As the bride came stepped upon the altar, she lifted a gloved hand and brought it under Elfman's agape jaw, pushing it shut with a soft snicker. Laxus snarled something under his breath about shutting his trap before he looks like a fool. Then the blond man lifted his right hand to Elfman, who hastily took it in his own and shook it. Laxus chuckled a bit, before lifting Ever's hand from his arm, and giving it to Elfman. The dragon slayer stepped to the right, before Evergreen reached for his hand again her fingers grazed his.

Laxus flinched, and turned back, grasping Evergreen's hand in his and squeezing it softly. "Dammit, Ever. I was trying not to cry here." Laxus exhaled roughly, as a single tear ran down his right cheek.

Evergreen laughed softly, her nerves lightening, and she finally released her best friend, who went to stand to the left behind her.

Evergreen finally turned to her groom, who was now grinning widely. She could almost hear his heart beating in his chest, and she chuckled again, before the head of a tiny elderly man came up between them.

Makarov had made his way to the top of his podium, and was now ready to begin his duty as priest. He was absolutely beaming, and leaned in onto the podium.

"We are here to unite Elfman Strauss, youngest son of the Strauss siblings, and Evergreen, the lovely lady of the Raijinshuu. I've watched the two of your grow and excel over the years, and have witnessed your love do so too." He turned his gaze to the groom, "Elfman, your vows?"

Elfman inhaled sharply, and suddenly the bright light above the altar seemed hotter than before. He exhaled his held breath, and nodded, his eyes never leaving his gorgeous bride.

"Evergreen, when we first met, I never thought you could fall in love with a man like me, in fact, I thought you might kill me."

There was a soft laughter from the audience before he continued.

"I know you're strong, and you can fight for yourself, but I will do anything to protect you for the rest of your life, because I love you so much. I'll always be there when you need me, and probably when you don't too." He laughed self-consciously, "I can never imagine how my life could have been without you. You make me feel like a real man."

Evergreen giggled softly, and reached her hand up to wipe the sweat from Elfman's brow and chin, before starting her own vows without prompting.

"Elfman Strauss, you're a klutz of a man. I've never met anyone like you. You put up with your crazy sisters and all your crazy guild friends, but mostly…" Evergreen blinked her eyes, trying to clear the tears that were fogging them, "You put up with me. I know I'm sharp tongued, and sometimes I say things I don't mean, but you've looked past all that. So thank you. Thanks for loving me." The brunette sobbed softly.

Elfman stared down at his bride with wide eyes, and reached to wipe away her tears, whispering her name tenderly.

Makarov took a deep snuffle back, ridding himself of his own tears, before speaking up again. "With those sweet words exchanged, do you, Elfman Strauss, taking Evegreen to be your wife, in good times and bad, in sickness and in health, until death do you part?"

"I do. As a man there is no other answer." Elfman bragged.

"And Evergreen," Makarov spoke again, "Do you take Elfman Strauss to be you husband, in good times and bad, in sickness and in health, until death do you part?"

Evergreen was still chuckling from her groom's response, and wiped tears from her eyes, before answering, "I do."

"If anyone has reason for these two not to be wed, speak now, or forever hold for peace."

Though there was no one who would have spoken up in the first place, an ominous aura came shooting up from both Makarov and his grandson to his right, which would have silenced anyone who would have as much as thought of it.

After a moment, Makarov's expression lightened again. "Romeo. The rings." He instructed.

The dark haired teen stepped from the far right of the stage, and made his way over to the couple, before bowing down and offering the pillow with their rings resting upon them. Each of the two took one ring, and Elfman slipped the smaller ring upon Evergreen's left hand, before she did so to his.

"I now pronounce you man and wife." He beamed at Elfman, who was blushing brightly over what came next, "You may not kiss the bride."

Elfman smiled, and had only bent in slightly, before Evergreen sprung up and threw her arms around his neck, pulling herself off the floor to smash her lips into his. Elfman grunted into her mouth, before she yanked him down towards her, and moved her jaw along his, hastily mouthing her groom.

"Hey!" Makarov grumped mockingly, "I thought I told you both no tongue!"

**End**

**Epilogue**

Wendy stood out in the dance floor, tired of being dragged around in circles by the other dancing guests. She leaned against the wall and sighed softly. Today had been absolutely beautiful; she didn't want it to end.

"Oh! I almost forgot! Get all the bridesmaids over here!" She heard Evergreen Strauss cheering, "You too, Wendy!"

Wendy looked up puzzled, and then walked into the middle of the dance floor to join the small crown of woman dressed in green. She looked back and forth, and then up to Evergreen, who turned her back and hurled something into the air.

All of the woman around her started shrieking, and Juvia shoved Wendy, obviously too excited to pay attention. With the added force of the water mage, Wendy found herself tripping over her own feet, and collapsed to the ground, before feeling something soft fall into her extended hands. She opened her squinted eyes, to see a colorful bouquet within her palms.

"NOOOOO!" Juvia squealed, "Juvia wanted to be married next."

"M-M-Married!" Wendy staggered out, her face burning red.

"That's right!" Cana laughed, a glass of wine in her hand. She glanced the teenaged girl sitting on the ground, and followed her embarrassed gaze over to Romeo, who was scooping a drink from the punch bowl. "Ooooo~ And it looks like you've already got your eye on someone! Lucky you, Romeo!"

The boy dropped his glass of juice and his face turned a bright shade of crimson. "What? What?! Don't look at me!" He cried, before running from his father who had quickly come running to torment him.

Wendy continued to blush, but chuckled lightly, before exploding into laughter, which the rest of the hall soon joined in with.

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**I hope you all enjoyed this! I really enjoyed writing it. It's actually based a good bit off my memories of the only wedding I've gone to, between my two best friends. The bride really did fine out the day before the wedding about my childish dreams to be a flower girl, and allowed me to be hers (though I was 20, not 16 ahaha). It's one of my most precious memories, and I'm glad I found a way to share it with all of you. **

**See you tomorrow! **


	27. Birthday Girl (Gruvia)

**Series:** Fairy Tail

**Pairing:** Gray Fullbuster/Juvia Lockser

**Title:** Birthday Girl

**Prompt:** Birthday

**Rating:** T for Teen

**Word Count:** 506

**AN:** An anon asked if I could make one of the upcoming prompts about Gray/Juvia's future family, and I knew just the one! Here it comes guys!

* * *

Juvia stirred in her sleep at the feeling of Gray's lips pecking against the skin of her neck. Soft moans escaped her throat, before her blue eyes finally fluttered open to find her husband leaning over her, leading butterfly kisses down from her collar bone towards her exposed breasts as his fingers popped open the buttons further down her night shirt.

"Gray…" She whispered his name. "It is very early…"

Gray's eyes flicked up as he noticed his wife had regained her consciousness, and he moved back up to her face to peck her lips. "We have to start today early, don't we?" He asked with a grin. "Happ—"

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMY!" A toddler's voice cried out, as their bedroom door was slammed open. Gray instinctually grabbed the edge of the comforter and threw it over Juvia's bare chest.

Three-year-old Neisha came running into the master bedroom, stumbling over her feet, until she got close enough to the bed for Gray to lean over and scoop her up, dropping her on Juvia's lap.

The dark haired child crawled up to wrap her arms around her mother's neck.

"Oh, thank you, Neisha!" Juvia giggled, and hugged her kid in return.

Neisha was only about two feet tall. She had long, wavy black hair that fell to the middle of her back. Her eyes were big and blue, just like her mother's, and her favorite clothing was…none, just like her father's. Even now she donned only a pair of undies.

"Where did Neisha's nightshirt go?" Juvia scolded her jokingly.

"Neisha lost it over night! It's too warm! Neisha is too warm!" The little girl was learning to speak in third person, just like her mother.

Juvia laughed again, and rubbed her daughter's head. "Alright, alright. But will Neisha please wear the dress Mommy bought for her today? Do it for Mommy?" She extended her bottom lip and gave her tyke the best puppy dog face she could muster.

The youth pouted, and then nodded. "Okay. But only because Neisha does not have a gift for mommy." She wore a guilty face. Just the other day, the child had spent her entire allowance on candy, when Elfman and Evergreen's daughter had invited her to go to the convenience store for the first time.

The mother ran her fingers through Neisha's hair, before cupping the child's face in her hands, and kissing her right on the nose.

"It's alright, Neisha. Mommy got the best gift in the world from you three years ago." She told her. Gray shifted his weight and leaned his side against Juvia, before nodding to the curious toddler.

"Neisha gave Mommy a present?" She questioned, and tilted her head to the side.

"She did." Juvia said with a nod.

"The best present." Gray concurred.

"Happy birthday, Neisha." Juvia said softly, and placed a kiss on her baby's forehead.

"Yeah, happy birthday, shrimp." Gray snickered, and kissed the child's cheek.

Neisha grinned widely as she figured out her parents riddle. "Neisha gets it! It was me!"

**The End**

* * *

**AN 2: I had to write a drabble just to think of a name for Neisha, so there is some reasoning behind her name. I'll probably post it after the challenge as a "Day 31" or something I guess, so look forward to that.**


	28. Sheets and Giggles (Jerza)

**Replies: **

**Rin-chan: Wow, since day 5? Thanks so very much for hanging around so long!****I'm glad to hear you're enjoying them all! **

**We're almost at the end now, is everyone ready? I'm actually writing the big finale today, I hope everyone likes it. Well, here's the last Jerza of the challenge, enjoy!**

* * *

**Series:** Fairy Tail

**Pairing:** Jellal Fernandez/Erza Scarlet

**Title:** Sheets and Giggles

**Prompt: **Doing Something Ridiculous

**Rating:** T for Teen

**Word Count:** 847

**AN:** Fluffy nonsense warning.

* * *

Jellal's eyes opened slowly upon a room he did not recognize. He peered around at his surroundings; a desk lamp sat upon a nightstand to his right; a ceiling fan spun slowly above him; the scent of bath salts filled the air. Ah yes, that was right. It was a tiny hotel out on the outskirts of Magnolia where he had spent the past night.

Then, Jellal turned his golden eyes to his left, and remembered another—rather important—fact: he had not spent the night alone.

Resting soundly next to him was the gorgeous Erza Scarlet, the hair she was named after let loose and fanning across her pillows and under the sheets. She was curled tight under the linens, which were pulled up over her bare breasts and draped down to her feet; so only her toes peeked out from the bottom.

Jellal soon became aware of his own nudity, and his cheeks turned rosy as his memories of the night before became clearer, and then he smiled softly, before shifting his weight to his left to lean towards the young lady. The blue haired mage ran his fingers over Erza's cheek, and the red head sighed in her sleep. Jellal responded with his own content sigh.

He allowed his hand to travel farther down from her face, to her shoulder, which he caressed faintly, before running down her side. He felt Erza's flinch body under his touch as his hand reached the side of her stomach, and his eyes widened with curiosity.

Jellal twiddled his fingers against Erza's skin, through the thin sheets, and the woman flinched again, kicking one foot out from the covers. He peered up to her face to find she still appeared to be asleep, but her visage was less peaceful and more scrunched up, however, her lips were fighting off a smile.

A grin grew across the man's face, and he sat up on the bed, leaning closer to reach out to Erza with both hands before tickling both of her sides.

The woman kicked her feet violently, before lurching up and letting out cries of laughter.

"Bwahahaha! Jellal nohahaha! Stahahahap!" She cried out, and thrashed about the bed.

Jellal could not control his enjoyment though, and only continued to attack her sides and stomach with her fingers. "I never thought the great Erza Scarlet would be ticklish." He teased.

Erza couldn't even speak through her giggle fits, and attempted to kick the man away, but he caught her left foot with one hand and tickled it with the other.

"Nooohohohoho!" Erza wailed, and writhed about the bed further, before twisting too far to the left, and finding there not to be enough mattress underneath her. "Hahwaaa!" The exquip mage screeched as she fell from the bed and onto her back on the carpeted floor.

Jellal peaked over the mattress with a bit of worry in his eyes, but when he saw the young woman tangled up in the bed sheets, with her hair covering her face in ever which way, he could not help but chuckle. "Phhhhttt! Are you okay, Erza?" He chortled.

Erza shook her red locks from her face, "No thanks to you." She stated, and reached up at the young man. She only barely caught his wrist as he tried to escape, and gave him a great yank, bringing the man tumbling down on top of her.

Jellal's face landed promptly in the woman's breasts, and as he put his hands to each of her sides to attempt to lift himself up, he felt her fingers crawl into his armpits and tickle at them.

The man was so surprised by the sudden laughter that attempted to burst from his throat, he held his breath at first, but Erza kept up her attack until his finally gave in and let the giggles free. He writhed at her touch until he sat up to escape her, while the woman stayed on the floor, laughing to herself.

"I haven't met a single living being that isn't tickling in their armpits." Erza bragged through her snickering.

"Is that so?" Her partner responded, a glint in his eye, before lunging down towards the woman to attack her pits too.

However, when he neared her, Erza lifted her arms up and wrapped them around Jellal's neck, pulling him down to her lips and kissing the man passionately. Jellal gasped against her lips, but she didn't falter, licking softly at his mouth until he opened for her to meet his tongue with hers. Jellal moaned softly, and turned his jaw to kiss the woman deeper, his hand wandering up to her cheek. Erza chuckled softly, before slowly separating her mouth from his.

"I think this means I win our match." She grinned.

"I do believe that is _cheating_, Miss Scarlet." He panted, sneering down at the young woman below him.

"But you can't deny that you enjoyed it." She retorted, her eyes wandering down his torso, and then lower.

"No… I suppose not." Jellal smirked, and leaned in to kiss the woman again.

**End**


	29. The Welcome Home (ElfEver)

**Replies: **

**Bridgetteo0: ****Jerza is actually my fourth favorite ship of FT, I honestly didn't expect to write so many fics about them during this, but I literally cannot help but ship them. The way they look at each other packs so much tension, it feels like my heart might explode.**

**But I wouldn't say that Mashima hates his characters, in fact, since Jellal is basically Sieg from Rave Master (design wise at least, I remember basically nothing about Sieg's personality now) I've always assumed he was one of Mashima's favorite, since he liked him enough to not want to let him go once Rave had ended. Putting characters through pain and dragging them through the dirt, so they can stand back up again, is important for character development. When Jellal can forgive himself, he'll come back and get Erza for sure u.0 But Mashima has stated many times that Fairy Tail is not about romance, and sometimes he makes that point by dangling cute pairings in front of our face and then breaks our hearts and chews them up and spits them out and steps on them and throws them down a sewer and then laughs.**

**If you get that reference I hope you sang along. Anyway, time for the SECOND TO LAST FIC! **

* * *

**Series:** Fairy Tail

**Pairing:** Elfman Strauss/Evergreen

**Title:** The Welcome Home

**Prompt:** Doing something sweet

**Rating:** E for Everyone

**Word Count:** 1085

**AN:** More like Strauss family love with a little bit of ElfEver sprinkled in.

Sweat ran down Elfman's cheek, as he trudged away from the Magnolia train station. The mission he was coming back from had been more stressful than he had imagined. A bodyguard position was nothing new for the man, but the client had forgotten to mention that a gang of thieves, numbering in the hundreds, had their eyes on the fortune that the family he was protecting carried. Elfman had spent the last 3 days on the back of a carriage without sleep, bashing in heads and kicking off bandits that tried to crawl aboard.

His muscles felt strained and his feet hurt, but mostly, his eyes could hardly stay open. His walk back home would be the hardest part of the journey.

Elfman's eyes stayed on the ground as he trekked through the city, his mind on autopilot as his legs carried him back home. Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw a head of white hair run past, and his gaze turned up to explore his surroundings, expecting to see one of his darling sisters around him, yet found only strangers. He sighed; his tired mind must have been playing tricks on him.

Elfman thought about going to the guild first, in case Lisanna and Mirajane were still present there, to let them know he had arrived back safely, but the red skies told him the sun was going down, and his sisters would arrive home shortly after him, so he decided to save himself the extra trip.

As dirt paths became paved sidewalks, Elfman knew he was nearing home, and his spirits lifted. If he could just get inside, he could collapse on the couch and take a well-deserved nap. He reached his front door and exhaled with exhaustion, but when he reached for the doorknob, he found it already open. Were his sisters already home?

Slowly, the man pushed open the door, to see the only light in the house was leaking out from the kitchen, and from the same room he could hear Lisanna's voice crying.

"Hurry, Ever, hurry! I saw him coming from the station! He'll be here soon!"

"Shush, little girl." Evergreen's voice retorted, "You can't rush art." And then she hissed, "And who said you could call me 'Ever?'"

Elfman's muddled mind slowly processed the hushed words, and he opened his mouth to announce his presence, when a short body bumped into his back.

"Oof!" He heard a feminine voice squeak.

Elfman glanced behind him to see Mirajane rubbing her head, before looking up to her brother and a line of sweat running down her forehead.

"Oh! Elfman! You're back!" She squealed.

"What?! He's here?" The youngest sister cried from the kitchen. "Forget it, Ever! It's fine!"

"Stop calling me, Ever! Why am I even part of this?" The fairy queen shouted. "Fine! It's done. Get on with this."

Lisanna's footsteps tapped into the living room, before the sound of a light switch flicking on hit Elfman's ears, and he flinched as all the light in the room illuminated at once.

As the tanned man's vision cleared, he found the living room decorated in streamers and balloons. He looked around curiously, and then watched as Mirajane ran from behind him to join her sister at the entrance of the room, before they both shouted.

"Welcome home, Brother!"

Elfman was completely taken aback by their surprise, but then his eyes shot to the kitchen exit, as Evergreen strolled out with a two-tier cake balanced on a plate on her left hand. She spoke not a word, and placed the cake down on the coffee table in the middle of the living room. The top of the white iced cake was decorated in cream swirls topped with cherries, and in green icing "Welcome Home Elf!" was written.

"Ever, you're…" He started, but the young woman cut him off.

"Yes, welcome back." Evergreen finally spoke up, "I don't know why your sister's insisted I helped, I've seen them make plenty cakes on their own." The young woman's cheeks were red, as she glanced away from the young man in front of her.

"Isn't that obvious though?" Lisanna asked, and skipped up next to Evergreen.

"Yes," Mirajane started, walking up to join her sister, "there was some report that the east was getting a serious storm of bandits, and since we knew Elfman's mission was in that direction, we thought he might be a little worn out when he got back."

Evergreen's eyes wandered up the straggled man, who scratched the back of his head knowingly. "Yeah. You were right about that much." The brunette observed.

"So we wanted to throw him a part when he got back!" Lisanna cheered, "And it wouldn't have been the same without Ever here."

"And why is that?" Evergreen's face burned red, "And why do you keep calling me Ever?!"

Mirajane and Lisanna stared at the woman with puzzled expressions, before snickering a bit.

"Isn't it obvious?" Mirajane asked, "Both answers are the same."

"Yeah. It's because Big Brother Elf calls you Ever all the time nowadays. And you don't correct him anymore." The youngest sister grinned at Evergreen, whose eyes widened as her face burned hotter.

"That's because—I mean I…" She searched for an excuse, and turned her crimson face to Elfman, who was laughing softly. "This is you're fault, you big dolt!" She screeched.

Elfman continued to laughed, and stepped towards the three ladies, wrapping him arms around all three of them and lifting them off the ground as he hugged them. "Thanks, you three." He chortled.

"Anything for you, Big Brother." Lisanna giggled.

"Put me down _this __**instant**_!" Evergreen protested, and then screeched as Elfman's tower of a body lost balance and tumbled onto the floor. The three women escaped his grasp and sat up, to find the man snoring on the carpeted floor.

"Poor Elf." Lisanna said with a soft smile.

"Yes, he must have been really exhausted." Mirajane said, leaning over her little brother.

"Idiot." Evergreen sat up straight and hugged onto her knees, puffing up her red cheeks. "I worked hard on that cake. He better eat it when he wakes up."

The Strauss sisters exchanged glances and giggled to each other, than looked to the third woman.

"Why not stay until he wakes up so you can make sure he does?" Mirajane suggested.

Evergreen glanced at the white haired woman, and then back to Elfman. "I suppose he has forced me to." She grinned.

**End**


	30. Earl Gray Tea (Gruvia)

**Series:** Fairy Tail

**Pairing:** Gray Fullbuster/Juvia Lockser

**Title:** How to Make the Perfect Earl Gray Tea

**Prompt:** Doing Something "Hot"

**Rating:** T for Teen

**Word Count:**

**AN:** (Warning: Horn Dog Juvia.) This is it! The last day of the challenge! Thanks for hanging around everyone! I hope you enjoyed my brainless fluffy drabbles. More notes after the story

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Juvia sat in her bed, leaning against the pillows propped up against her headboard. In her lap was a tiny pamphlet titled "How to Brew the Perfect Cup of Tea." Earlier in the day, Mirajane had slipped it to her along with a cup of iced coffee, and now she wondered if there was some hidden meaning to it. Juvia's eyes caught upon some color dying the black and white page, and she found pink highlighter marking one article of the paper in specific.

"The Perfect Cup of Earl Gray"

Juvia's lips curled up into a devious smile, before she read on.

**Step 1: Bring a cup of water to boil**

The following afternoon, Gray was sitting at the bar of Fairy Tail, chatting with Cana to his right, and holding a cup of water in his left hand. The woman was gloating about her latest defeat of Bacchus in a drinking contest, and how she would never lose to that man again.

He was chuckling at his friend's bragging, when he heard a communal gasp echo through the guild, followed by a chorus of hooting and cat calls from many of the male members. Gray rolled his eyes and didn't bother to look behind him. Surely Evergreen or Lucy had walked in wearing one of their more… immodest outfits. They were both women who were proud of their bodies, and he wasn't one to judge them for that, but he could do without all the horn-dogs in the guild getting so excited over them.

"Well would you look at that?" Cana slurred out as her eyes traveled across the room to the figure that had garnered all the attention.

"What, you too?" Gray sighed, and decided he had to give a glance to keep up his conversation with the drunkard. As Gray turned his head, he heard the tapping of heels on the floor, and when he had rotated completely around in his seat, he found a pair of breasts hovering right at his nose.

"Gray~" The woman in front of him cooed his name.

"J-Juvia?!" The ice mage exclaimed, and fell back in his seat to lean against the bar.

Juvia stood directly in front of Gray, and he could not stop his eyes from exploring her from head to foot. She wore a long black dress, which had a neckline that dipped well into her chest, leaving little to the imagination. The dress had thin straps, one of which was slipping slowly down her shoulder. Her left leg was bent out of the long slit that ran up her dress, and revealed the tail end of her guild mark. Up her legs ran a pair of translucent gray stockings, which came to an end half up her thigh, and the edge of a garter belt could be seen peaking out from the dress slit, and her feet were dressed in a pair of black stiletto heels.

The young woman leaned down and in towards the man in front of her, giving him another great view of her bosom.

Gray felt his mouth grow dry, as he dragged his eyes away from her chest and up to her blue hues, which explored his face curiously. "Wh-What is it, Juvia?"

Juvia stood up straight again, and ran her hand through her loose blue hair, before catching the end of a lock in her fingers and spinning it around the digit. "Oh, it was nothing. Juvia was just thinking about Gray and so she came to see him." She stated coyly, and then blinked her eyes at the man who was currently unconciously stripping off his shirt.

"Ah that's… great." Gray swallowed audibly.

Juvia stepped forward towards the man again, and reached out for him. Gray flinched before she placed her palm softly on his forehead.

"That is odd." She examined, and let her hand travel down his face, before holding one finger under his chin and forcing his gaze upon hers again.

"Wh-What is?" Gray stammered. Why was he becoming so nervous all of a sudden? It was just Juvia! But she seemed so… different today.

"It's just that…" The bluenette started, and her eyes shifted about as she searched for the right words, "Gray is usually very cold. But today he seems quite… hot." The last word slipped off her lips like water, and Gray felt like the woman was drowning him.

"Could Gray have a fever?" Juvia asked, her finger leaving his chin, and coming to her own as she scratched it intuitively.

Was that what this was? A fever? Sure, that was starting to make sense. He wanted to agree with her, but his lungs felt like they were full of water, yet his throat felt so dry. Instead, he slowly nodded, not removing his eyes from the dame ahead of him.

"Maybe Juvia should take Gray home then." She smiled, and reached for his arm. Gray made no argument, and allowed the woman to pull him from his seat, and begin to lead him out of the guild.

Cana pouted as she watched her buddy get dragged away, and rolled her eyes, as she had to find another way to keep herself entertained. She saw Mirajane walk up behind the bar and smile in her direction, yet her eyes stayed locked on the couple leaving the building.

"That woman's planning something. Gray's such an idiot." The brunette scoffed. Mira merely chuckled softly behind the bar at her friend.

**Step 2: Add herbs and brew**

A shirtless Gray was lead down the streets by the young lady in front of him. At first his eyes had been locked on the skies, but soon they wandered down to the arm that guided him. His gaze travelled over the young woman, her dress had almost no back to it, the slit in it showing of her spine, and as the fabric was tossed back and forth, with each step she took, the very top of her rump occasionally gave a peak from under it.

Gray's face burned crimson, and he pulled his eyes away from the woman again, but she turned her head to him and her eyes locked on her lips.

"Gray is warm again. But it is alright, Gray and Juvia have almost arrived." She told him, and gave him a demure smile.

Gray had been too absorbed by his chaperone to take in his surroundings. He took a glance around, and then realized they were already on his block. His house was only ten or twenty feet away. Suddenly, he felt like he wanted to skid to a stop, and stay out in the streets with the young lady ahead of him. However, in the time he took to make that thought, they had walked up his steps, and were at his door.

Gray stared at his doorknob, and then down at the woman beside him. She stared at him with clueless pout, and then wrapped her arm around his and pressed herself up against the limb. "Gray did not lose his keys, did he?"

Gray felt a chill run up his spine, and he dug into his pocket and pulled out a key ring with a single key dangling on it. "N-No. It's right here." He told her, and put it into the lock with a shaking hand. As the door unlocked, he looked at the young lady, whoes eyebrows were knotted above a forced smile, as if she were waiting for something.

"Uh… did you want to come in for coffee, or something?" Gray asked timidly. The young lady's eyes lit up with excitement, and she nodded quickly, before shoving the young man into the house and closing the door behind her.

Despite Gray's invitation, Juvia was the one who insisted on making the coffee, and spent her time in the kitchen mixing up her own special brew. Gray was sitting on the couch, enjoying the silence and the sound of bubbling water in the other room. Juvia had instructed him to rest, but his mind was all but resting. He kept thinking about the dame in the other room, dancing about his kitchen, insisting on taking care of him. It struck him that this wouldn't be so bad if this were a more common occurrence.

As that notion ran through his mind, Gray felt his body temperature rise again. What was he thinking? The fever must have been getting to him—if this really was a fever.

The sound of footsteps caught Gray attention as his guest reemerged into the living room with two cups of caramel-colored coffee in her hands.

Juvia offered one cup to Gray, which he softly grasped and brought in front of his lips, before she walked to his right and sat down upon the couch next to him.

Gray looked at the drink, which had three cube of ice tinkling around atop of it, before taking a sip. His lips curled up at the taste, and he took a hasty swallow of it, before turning to Juvia. "This is really great. I've never tasted coffee like it."

Juvia blushed softly, and sipped her own coffee. "Thank you, Gray. It is Juvia's special blend of iced coffee. Juvia uses honey and caramel to sweeten it, and whipping cream to lighten it." She explained, before leaning over to place her cup on Gray;s coffee table.

Gray let his eyes travel down the lady's back again, and he exhaled over his drink. This time, when she sat up and returned her eyes to his, he made to attempt to avert his gaze from her slim figure, and instead traced his eyes from her hips up to her cheeks, which were stained pink with modesty.

"Juvia…" He sighed, "Do you mind if I ask why you're dressed in such a way? Did you have somewhere important to go?" He finally spoke his mind on her ensemble.

Juvia slipped her fingers slowly through her hair, and nibbled on her lip bashfully, before she scooted closer towards Gray and pressed her side against his, smiling cautiously as his eyes stayed locked upon her.

"No, Juvia didn't have anywhere to go." She told him, and then gave him a devious grin. "Juvia only wanted to… spice things up."

Gray felt another chill run up his spine, and he suddenly found that Juvia's lips were coming closer to his with every breath. "Well, you definitely managed that." He smirked down at her as she stared back with half-lidded eyes.

**Step 3: Add milk and stir**

Gray leaned back and to his side, and Juvia couldn't fight back her pout. She thought she was getting somewhere here. She heard the sound of glass on wood, and noticed him setting his coffee down on the table next to hers, and then watched as Gray brought himself back to his former position, inches away from her face, and Juvia inhaled sharply as she admired his features.

"Now, why don't you tell me why I'm really burning up here, Juvia?" He asked her flatly, looking into her eyes with a serious gaze. "You didn't spike my drink, did you?"

Juvia leapt back from the man and furrowed her brow. "Juvia would never!" She almost shouted, and crossed her arms in front of her, before turning her nose into the air and huffing bitterly.

Gray gasped, realizing what he had implied with that question, and put his hands out towards the woman, but she backed up on the couch. "Gray does not trust Juvia." She spoke with ridicule, and refused to look at him.

"No, I'm sorry. I do trust you, I just… I only feel like this around you and especially right now. It can't be a fever. I'm not stupid." Gray argued.

Juvia finally turned to him with her mouth agape, and then swiftly moved to her knees and forced her face inches away from his, causing the man to back up against the arm rest.

"Gray is _very_ stupid." She stated blankly.

"What?" Gray grouched from the sudden insult.

"This is why Gray is so hot!" The bluenette barked, and then reached up around the man's neck to pull herself onto his chest, before wrapping her mouth around his. Gray gasped against her lips, and his hand flinched before resting on her waist. Juvia continued to kiss his lips roughly, fighting past his guard to reach her tongue into his mouth. Gray grunted as she explored him, her teeth clacking against his, her tongue tangling with his own. Gray wrapped his arms around the young lady and pressed her against him.

Juvia's hands lead up from his neck and into his hair, and she turned her jaw to deepen her kiss further. Gray could hear her sigh contently against his lips, and it all began to make sense. Yeah, this was what he needed. He didn't need to fight the water mage any longer—he _wanted_ to be drowned by her.

Juvia slowly separated from Gray's jaw, but not before pecking his lips twice more before slowly raising her head to look him in the eye with a sly smile.

Gray peered up at the young woman sitting in his lap. He panted softly, but a grin grew across his face as she smirked at him with one raised eyebrow.

"How did you know this would work?" He asked her, though his eyes fell from hers to stare upon the pair of hooters pressed against his chiseled chest.

"Because…" Juvia ran her finger down his cheek and under his chin, to bring his gaze back to her face. "Juvia is always hot around Gray. Juvia feels like she is boiling over every moment she spends with Gray."

Gray's visage fell into a pout, and he reached up to cup her cheek. "How do you manage with that? After five minutes, I thought I might melt."

Juvia leaned into his touch, and sighed with a content smile. "Sometimes it can hurt, it's true, but…" She glanced upon him as she searched for the right words. "Juvia only wants to be useful to Gray. Even if this hadn't worked out, Juvia would have been happy if she could just make Gray feel better."

Gray softly exhaled as he listened to the woman, and then pulled her closer, before pressing his forehead against hers. "You're far more than 'useful,' Juvia." He promised, and then pecked her lips with his. Juvia giggled with modesty, and then leaned back as Gray pushed himself off of the couch and then in towards her. He put a hand to each of her shoulders and pressed the woman back against the couch cushions. Juvia sighed softly as Gray bent in and softly kissed her collarbone. She bent her head back as his kisses lead up her neck and over her chin to her ear. Gray ran his tongue over the woman's earlobe and she lead out a soft yelp.

Gray held back a snicker, and beamed at the woman below him. She stuck her tongue out with a silly grin. "Sorry, Juvia is just very excited." She chuckled.

"I hope you don't think you're the only one." Gray remarked, and raised one eyebrow as he allowed his eyes to freely explore the woman's curves again. Her dress was pulled every which way, and much of her skin was available for display. Juvia watched Gray lick his lips and a chill ran up her spine.

The ice mage ran his cold hands under the woman, before jumping to his feet and lifting the bluenette up with him. Juvia gave out a squeal as she floated in the air for only a second, before landing awkwardly in Gray's arms, her legs draped over his one arm and her back balanced against his other.

"I believe this is the correct time to take this to the bedroom." The dark haired man told her with a grin.

Juvia smirked, and allowed the man to carry her towards his charmber.

"Step 4: Enjoy." She whispered to herself.

**End**

**Epilogue: Rebrew and Repeat**

Juvia sat at a booth table in Fairy Tail the following morning. Lucy and Levy sat across from her, chatting amongst themselves. The water mage was smiling softly, only half listening to her company, as she traced circles on the wooden table in front of her.

"Your drinks, ladies." Mirajane's voice spoke up through the blonde and bluenette across from Juvia. All three ladies turned their attention to the white haired barmaid, who held a tray on her left hand, with three mugs on it.

"We have black coffee for Levy." She started, and placed one mug in front of the solid script mage, before reaching for the next. "Strawberry milk for Lucy." Lucy reached up and took the cup from Mira. "And… Earl Gray tea for Juvia." Mirajane grinned as the warmly dressed bluenette took the tea from her. "How was last night's 'tea'?" The waitress asked with a sly smile.

"Oh, it was exactly what Juvia needed." She responded, and took a sip from her cup. "Hot, and heavy, and everything Juvia has ever dreamt of. I think Juvia will be needing some more soon."

Mirajane pursed her lips and raised both eyebrows as she sneered upon the water mage, who continued to drink with tea with a wily grin. "That good, huh?"

Juvia just chuckled in response, to which Mirajane returned her own chortle, before bowing to the three of them, and turning to wait upon another table.

Lucy watched Mirajane walk away with a perplexed look upon her face, and then turned to Juvia. "What was _that_ all about?"

"Yeah, that was suspicious." Levy concurred, and stared intently at the other blue haired woman at the table.

"Oh, Juvia just had… a lot of fun last night." She responded, her eyes shut as she continued guzzle her tea.

"With… tea?" Lucy asked with an eyebrow raised. "Am I missing something?" She turned her head to Levy to see if she could fill in the blank, but found the petite woman's face burning red as she stared at Juvia with wide eyes. "Levy?"

"Earl… _Gray_ tea." Levy repeated the name of Juvia's drink. The water mage smirked as her friend unraveled her riddle.

Lucy's cheeks began to grow red too, as her mouth fell agape. "'Gray' tea…" She leapt to her feet and slammed her hands against the table. "Juvia, you didn't! No way!"

Juvia didn't respond to her friend, but instead turned her head to the left. The other two women looked the same direction, to find Gray standing at the side of their table.

"G-Gray?" Lucy stammered out her teammate's name.

"Hi, Lucy." He waved to her, before turning his attention completely to Juvia. "Hey, Juvia. It's super hot at my house. Would you make that iced coffee for me again? It was really… _helpful _last night."

Juvia glanced at her friends, before sliding out of her seat and standing to Gray's side. "No problem, Gray. Juvia would love to." She reached out and wrapped her fingers around his.

Gray stared down at the woman softly, and then allowed her to lead him from the table and out of the guild again. Right before she reached the door, Juvia turned her hear back over her shoulder, and winked at her friends, still frozen in shock, their faces dyed crimson.

"Juvia will see you two when Gray is done with her." She spoke to them.

Gray stepped to the side just enough to bump his hip against hers and whispered in her ear. "Who says I'll ever be done?"

Juvia left the guild in a fit of giggles, with her arms wrapped tight around one of Gray's.

* * *

**Well, you guys really read to the end. Thanks so much for all the reviews and support. When I started this, I expected to write more NaLu than I did, I think that is my only regret, so we'll have to see about changing that in the future.**

**As I mentioned in day 27, I have a tiny fic I used for brainstorming that I want to post, but I may expand upon it and post it separately, instead of adding it here, so make sure you're following my account if you'd like to read it .0**

**And finally, as I'm sure you noticed in the AN's of the fics, there were quite a few couples/prompts that were requested. This was through my tumblr account, but I'd like to find a way for my followers here to be able to make requests/suggestions. So just keep an eye out in the future for something I set up for that. **

**For now I need to take a short break from writing. While the challenge was a ton of fun, it got really... challenging at the end ahaha. Since I post here 2 days later than tumblr, you wouldn't have noticed, but I actually missed the midnight deadline by 2 hours twice in the last 5 fics. Right now I just want to work on sketches for Gruvia week. Look forward to that! **

**If you have any questions or comments before I post something new, don't be afraid to send me a private message. See you all later!**


	31. Baby Names Extra Chapter (Gruvia)

**Alright, this fic has been left as "unfinished" for too long for me not to post this here, so here's the extra day I mentioned a while ago. This is related to day 27, and was basically just a train of thought to brainstorm up a name for the Gruvia baby. I'll mention now that there is a song involved in this chapter, and my taste in music is sometimes questionable (by which I mean I like the same kind of music that I liked when I was 12) so sorry if you don't enjoy the song as much as I. Enjoy!**

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"You can just pick something, I don't mind." Gray told his wife. It wasn't as if he didn't care about their child's name, he was just happy to have one. In fact, happy didn't begin to describe it. Since Juvia told him in March that she was 2 months pregnant, it was all Gray could think about. Every minute it felt like his heart would beat out his chest. He wondered if that was how Juvia used to feel around him back when he ignored her feelings.

Now that it was September, the baby was so close to arriving. A little girl was what they were expecting, and Gray couldn't stop imagining himself carrying her around the house and fussing over her every move.

But in every scenario, he called her nothing but "Baby."

It was that which brought Juvia to the subject.

"Juvia is serious, Gray. We must think of a name." She told him sternly.

"And I'm serious too. Any name you choose is fine." He rubbed her swollen belly and chuckled, "You're doing all the hard work, anyway."

Juvia pouted and rolled her eyes. "Juvia supposes Gray is right."

Gray nodded and grinned.

"But Gray will tell Juvia if he thinks of anything? Anything at all?" She questioned him.

"Sure, Sure." Gray gave in.

It wasn't until another week that anything came up.

Gray had walked into the kitchen, and heard Juvia softly singing to herself as she stirred a bowl of cake mix.

"_How can someone make me so sad but still I only want you to stay__  
__I wanna say I love you so bad, but I don't wanna scare you away…"_

"What's that?"He asked.

Juvia jumped up in surprise. "Oh! Gray, Juvia did not here you come in."

"What was that song?" He questioned her again.

"Oh, it is a song that Juvia used to sing a lot…" she said, a wistful look in her eye, "Juvia doesn't have to anymore but… it just got stuck in her head."

"What's it called?" He kept asking.

Juvia blushed softly, and placed her bowl and spoon down. "I Wish You Loved Me… by Tynisha Keli."

"Let's name her that."

Juvia's eyes widened as she tightened her gaze on Gray. "What?"

"Let's name her Tynisha. Why not?" Gray said, as if it were nothing.

"Oh Gray!" She cried and hugged onto him, "Gray does care!"

Gray laughed, "Of course I do, silly Juvia."

Juvia giggled. "How about just 'Neisha,' though?"

"Whatever you say, mommy-to-be."

**End**


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